From  a  Painting  by  N.  C.  Wyeth 


MY  COUNTRY 


A  TEXTBOOK  IN  CIVICS  AND  PATRIOTISM 
FOR  YOUNG  AMERICANS 


BY 

GRACE  A.  TURKINGTON 

tv 


FRONTISPIECE  IN  COLOR  BY 
N.  C.  WYETH 


GINN  AND  COMPANY 

BOSTON    •    NEW  YORK    •    CHICAGO    •    LONDON 
ATLANTA    •    T>ALLAS     •    COLUMBUS    •    SAN   FRANCISCO 


COPYRIGHT,  1918,  BY  GINN  AND  COMPANY 

ALL  BIGHTS  RESERVED 

319.9 


'. 


GINN  AND  COMPANY  •  PRO 
PRIETORS  •  BOSTON  •  U.S.A. 


PREFACE 

"My  Country"  has  been  written  to  meet  the  needs  of 
the  new  era  ushered  in  by  the  war.  A  new  leaf  in  the  affairs 
of  the  world  was  turned  in  1914,  and  no  book  on  govern- 
ment issued  before  that  year  can  meet  changed  conditions. 
The  author  has  endeavored  to  present  each  phase  of  the 
subject  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  present,  but  always 
with  a  look  backward  and  forward. 

Many  of  the  pupils  in  whose  hands  this  book  is  placed 
will  never  read  or  study  another  discussion  of  civics  and 
patriotism.  Is  it  more  important  that  they  get  from  this 
text  a  detailed  knowledge  of  the  machinery  of  town,  city, 
county,  state,  and  national  government,  or  that  they  get 
deeply  implanted  in  their  minds  and  hearts  the  conviction 
that  America  is  really  a  nation  founded  on  liberty,  that  it 
is  a  nation  which  looks  to  them  to-day  and  every  day  to 
help  in  its  building,  that  patriotism  means  making  the  most 
of  every  opportunity  that  this  land  of  opportunities  offers? 
The  author  has  felt  that  unless  the  boy  and  the  girl  leave 
the  elementary  or  junior  high  school  with  a  definite  con- 
ception of  what  America  stands  for,  what  it  expects  them 
to  do  now  as  boys  and  girls  and  later  as  men  and  women, 
they  will  be  futile,  even  if  well-meaning,  citizens. 

yp&ia  book  therefore  aims  to  create  a  background  which 
will  help  the  teacher  develop  a  spirit  of  true  patriotism 
(this  is  accomplished  by  the  early  chapters  in  the  book), 
and,  when  this  has  been  kindled,  to  take  the  pupil  into  the 

415342 


iv  MY  COUNTRY 

technical  part  of  the  subject  (the  chapters  on  laws,  govern- 
ment, taxes,  thrift,  etc.).  In  these  chapters,  as  in  the  earlier 
•ones,  the  pupil  is  never  allowed  to  lose  touch  with  the 
American  spirit  which  is  the  keynote  of  the  whole  text. 
And  finally  he  is  led  to  symbolize  love  of  country  in  a 
•consideration  of  the  flag. /The  Appendix  will  assist  those 
teachers  who  wish  to  emphasize  the  mechanics  of  the 
subject  in  a  broad  way.  The  minor  details  of  local  govern- 
ment vary  in  each  state  and  cannot  be  included  in  a  text 
of  this  kind. 

The  author  is  deeply  indebted  to  Myron  T.  Pritchard, 
principal  of  the  Everett  School,  Boston,  and  to  James  H. 
Eassett,  Superintendent  of  Schools,  Nashua,  New  Hampshire, 
for  very  practical  and  expert  assistance  in  adapting  this 
material  to  the  needs  and  comprehension  of  the  pupils. 
The  keen  criticism  of  James  Morgan,  author  of  "Abraham 
Lincoln,"  has  been  invaluable  in  broadening  the  outlook  of 
the  text  and  in  eliminating  errors.  The  chapters  on  taxes, 
health,  etc.  have  each  been  approved  by  an  expert.  With- 
out the  fullest  cooperation  of  my  publishers  and  the  gener- 
ous help  of  many  other  persons,  especially  Ernest  N.  Stevens, 
of  the  editorial  department  of  Ginn  and  Company,  the  book 
could  not  have  been  written.  To  the  Massachusetts  Child 
Labor  Committee  and  to  the  Women's  Municipal  League  the 
author  is  indebted  for  the  use  of  several  excellent  photo- 
graphs, and  to  Hermann  Hagedorn,  Frank  L.  Stanton,  and 
Percy  MacKaye  for  the  privilege  of  quoting  from  material 
copyrighted  by  them. 

THE   AUTHOR 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  AMERICA  —  WHAT  is  IT  ?  .........     .  1 

II.  THE  PEOPLE  OF  AMERICA     .........  15 

III.  AMERICA  AND  LIBERTY     ..........  27 

IV.  AMERICA  —  ITS  LANGUAGE     .........  43 

V.  MAKING  AN  AMERICAN      ..........  56 

VI.  THE  CHILDREN'S  AGE  .........     .     .  76 

VII.  WHY  WE  HAVE  SCHOOLS  ..........  93 

VIII.  MAKING  THE  UNITED  STATES  SAFE  FOR  CHILDREN  111 

IX.  How  THINGS  COME  ABOUT    .........  123 

X.  REPRESENTATIVE  GOVERNMENT      .......  134 

XI.  REPRESENTATIVE  GOVERNMENT  (CONTINUED)      .     .  157 

XH._THE  PRESIDENT  AND  HIS  ASSISTANTS    .....  170 

XIII.  RULES,  REGULATIONS,  AND  LAWS       ......  1S& 

XIV.  THE   PEOPLE   GOVERN  THEMSELVES    BY  MEANS  OF 

LAWS     ...............  201 

XV.  PAYING  THE  PEOPLE'S  BILLS     .     .  .......  21fr 

XVI.  AN  ENEMY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  ......  235 

XVII.  EFFICIENCY  —  THRIFT       ..........  248 

XVIII.  EFFICIENCY  —  HEALTH      ........   '.  272 

XIX.  How  AMERICA  HAS    HELPED    OPPRESSED    NATIONS  291 

XX.  WAR  —  WHAT  is  IT  ?    ...     ........  309 

XXI.  THE  ARMY  AND  THE  NAVY  .........  320 

XXII.  THE  ARMY  AND  THE  NAVY  (CONTINUED)      .     .     .  332 

XXIII.  OUR  FLAG   ...............  351 


APPENDIX 
INDEX 


V 


MY  COUNTRY 


CHAPTER  I 

AMERICA  — WHAT  IS  IT? 
What  Children  in  Foreign  Countries  think  of  America 

1.  To  many  people  in  other  countries  the  United  States 
is  a  kind  of  fairyland.    A  poor  English  boy  one  day  told 
his  friends  that  he  was  going  to  America  with  his  father 
and  mother.    They  crowded  around  to  hear  about  it.    This 
is  what  he  told  them  (notice  how  full  of  eagerness   and 
confidence  he  seems) : 

"  Yes,  there 's  wonderful  likely  things  over  there  in  Amer- 
ica, I'm  told.  I  hear  that  they  spends  all  their  coppers  for 
taffy  and  such  like  morsels,  having  gold  a  plenty  —  real  gold ! 
Loads  of  it,  they  say !  .  .  .  Everybody  has  a  chance  too. 
Double  wages  for  very  little  work.  .  .  .  They  say  the  sun  is- 
always  out,  too,  and  not  much  rain ! " 

So  sure  was  he  that  America  was  a  boy's  paradise  that  he- 
promised  to  send  back  Wonderful  gifts  for  his  friends.  One 
girl  was  to  get  a  fine  gold  watch,  and  when  her  sister  cried 
with  envy  he  said  she  should  have  a  diamond  pin.  To  several 
of  the  boys  he  promised  barrels  of  apples  and  candy. 

2.  A  young  Polish  girl  who  had  been  in  this  country  only 
a  little  while  was  asked  one  day  which  she  liked  better,. 
America  or  Poland.    "  Oh,  I  love  America,"  she  said.    "  Here 

l 


MY., COUNTRY 


I  can  be  a  noble  princess.  In  Poland  there  is  room  for  only 
a  few  nobles."  This  seemed  a  very  strange  answer.  The 
child  was  told  that  there  were  no  princes  or  princesses  in 
America  and  was  asked  to  explain  what  she  meant.  "  Yes, 
there  are  hundreds  of  nobles  here,"  she  insisted.  "  My  teacher 
is  a  princess,  and  one  little  princess  sits  next  to  me  when  we 
recite.  One  day  my  brother  and  I  took  a  long  walk  and  passed 
a  great  theater,  and  saw  hundreds  of  nobles." 

3.  After  a  little  questioning  the  girl  explained  that  in 
Poland  the  only  people  who  dressed  well  and  were  always 
smiling  and  happy  were  the  nobles.    Here  in  America  her 
teacher,  most  of  her  classmates,  and  most  of  the  people  on 
the  streets  wore  good  clothes  and  smiled  every  day.    So  of 
course  they  must  be  princes  and  princesses  ! 

4.  It  was  a  Syrian  boy  who  had  an  even  stranger  idea 
of  this  country.    When  asked  where  America  was,  he  said 
he  was  not  sure,  but  thought  it  was  a  long  way  off,  where 
good  Syrian  boys  went  when  they  died. 

5.  In  a  school  in  Italy  one  day  the  pupils,  were  asked  to 
write  about  America.    This  is  what  one  boy  wrote : 

America  is  ruled  by  a  president.  All  the  boys  in  America  are 
poor,  but  they  become  very  rich  when  they  grow  up.  The  men 
are  over  six  feet  tall  and  have  large  noses  and  hollow  cheeks. 

The  teacher,  at  first  greatly  puzzled  to  understand  how  the 
•boy  got  this  idea  of  the  United  States,  finally  remembered 
that  the  class  had  been  reading  about  famous  men.  They 
liad  all  been  much  impressed  to  learn  that  Lincoln,  in  spite 
of  his  poverty,  became  one  of  the  greatest  of  Americans. 
This  boy  had  drawn  the  conclusion  that  America  was  a 
nation  of  Abraham  Lincolns. 


Some  of  America's  Snow-Covered  Mountain  Peaks 


4  MY  COUNTEY 

Are  These  Children  Right? 

6.  If  all  these  children  were  right,  America  would  be  an 
earthly  paradise.    But   unfortunately  not   all   our  men  are 
giants  like  Abraham  Lincoln,  not  all  our  poor  boys  become 
rich  men.    There  are  many  faces  here  that  seldom  smile. 
This  country  has  great  wealth,  but  there  are  not  barrels  of 
candy  for  any  child.    Few  persons  get  gold  or  diamonds  or 
beautiful  clothes,  or  even  enough  to  eat,  without  working 
for  them  with  either  hands  or  brains.    But  there  must  be 
some  reason  why  people  believe  that  the  United  States  is  a 
kind  of  fairyland.    The  best  way  to  find  out  this  reason  is 
to  discover  for  ourselves  just  what  America  is  and  who  its 
people  are. 

America  and  the  United  States 

7.  Although  two  whole  continents  are  called  America,  — 
North  America  and  South  America,  which  are  connected  by 
Central  America,  —  when  we  speak  of  America  we  mean 
only  that  part  of  it  which  is  occupied  by  the  United  States. 

8.  But  what  is  the  United  States  ?    In  the  first  place,  it 
is  land  and  water,  —  plains,  mountains,  rivers,   and  lakes. 
In  the  second  place,  it  is  people. 

The  United  States  as  a  Part  of  a  Continent 

9.  The  United  States  stretches  from  Canada  to  Mexico  and 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific.   It 
has   mountain  peaks  that  are  covered  with  snow  most  of 
the  year,  and  fields  and  meadows  that  are  always  green. 
It  is  only  five  days  away  from  Europe  and  fourteen  days 
from  Asia.    It  has  the  widest  doors  of  any  country^  in  the 


AMERICA  — WHAT  IS  IT  ?  5 

world.  One  door  is  the  1883  miles  of  seacoast  from  Eastport, 
Maine,  to  Key  West,  Florida.  The  other  is  the  1316  miles 
of  seacoast  from  Seattle,  Washington,  to  San  Diego,  Cali- 
fornia. It  is  these  wonderful  doors  that  have  helped  to  bring 
us  great  prosperity.  Ships  from  every  port  in  the  world  drop 
anchor  in  either  New  York  or  San  Francisco  harbor. 

10.  There  is  not  a  country  in  Europe  or  Asia  which  does 
not  envy  the  United  States  its  doorways.    Russia,  which  is 
three  times  as  large  as  this  country  and,  perhaps,  will  some 
day  be  even  richer,  has  two  ocean  doors,  but  one  faces  the 
frozen  north  and  is  locked  with  ice  for  many  months  in  the 
year.    Switzerland  has  no  such  door,  and  is  almost  hemmed 
in  by  high  mountains.    Many  of  the  bloodiest  wars  hi  Europe 
for  the  last  five  hundred  years  have  been  caused  by  one 
nation  or  another  trying  to  push  its  way  to  a  friendly  strip 
of  seacoast.    The  people  of  the  United  States  have  the  sea- 
coast  without  fighting  for  it. 

11.  Not  only  do  we  have  an  ocean  at  each  end  of  the 
United  States  but  we  have  a  wonderful  system  of  rivers 
and  lakes.    Without  the   Mississippi  River  and  the  Great 
Lakes  we  should  be  a  quite  different  nation  to-day.    When 
a  well-known  Englishman  visited  the  United  States  for  the 
first  time,  he  said : 

No  wonder  your  country  is  prosperous,  with  this  network  of 
rivers.  There  is  not  a  country  in  Europe  that  would  not  willingly 
pay  a  vast  sum  of  money  —  if  money  could  buy  them — for  the 
Great  Lakes  which  lie  between  the  United  States  and  Canada. 

They  carry  ships  loaded  with  grain,  coal,  iron,  from  one 
section  to  another ;  they  give  off  moisture,  which  is  borne 
by  the  winds  to  states  that  otherwise  would  have  big 
desert  stretches. 


America's  Acres  of  Fertile  Land 


AMERICA  — WHAT  IS  IT  ?  7 

The  United  States  is  the  Richest  Country  in  the  World 

12.  The  United  States  contains  a  third  of  all  the  wealth 
of  the  civilized  world.    It  has  vast  supplies  of  gold,  silver, 
coal,  iron,  cattle,  and  a  great  extent  of  soil  that  will  produce 
wheat,  fruit,  vegetables,  cotton.    No  nation  can  be  prosperous 
without  all  these.    We  supply  our  own  needs  and  then  sell 
to  the  other  countries.    You  will  be  interested  to  see  how 
much  the  United  States  produces  of  some  things  each  year : 

76  per  cent  of  all  the  corn  grown  in  the  entire  world 

72  per  cent  of  all  the  oil 

70  per  cent  of  all  the  cotton 

59  per  cent  of  all  the  copper 

43  per  cent  of  all  the  pig  iron 

37  per  cent  of  all  the  coal 

35  per  cent  of  all  the  tobacco 

26  per  cent  of  all  the  silver 

24  per  cent  of  all  the  wheat 

21  per  cent  of  all  the  gold 

Nature  has  smiled  on  America 

13.  Nature  has  smiled  on  the  land  that  we  live  in.    If 
the  great  Middle  West   of  our   country  were  a  huge  hot 
desert  of  sand,  without  rivers  or  rainfall,  we  should  have 
less  to  eat,  less  to  wear  than  we  have  now.    We  should 
have  to  work   much   harder  and   get   less   for   our  work. 
Someone  has  said  that  if  the  Mississippi  Valley  were  tilted 
only  a  few  hundred  feet,  the  great  river  would  flow  north 
and  empty  into  the  Hudson  Bay  instead  of  into  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico.    Just  what  we  should  have  done  without  our 
largest  river,  it  is  hard  to  say.    Certainly  the  valley  would 


8  MY  COUNTKY 

not  have  been  settled  as  early  as  it  was,  and  where  there 
are  now  great,  prosperous  cities  there  would  have  been  only 
scattered  villages. 

14.  Even  the  climate  and  weather  are  in  our  favor.    In 
England  the  soil  is  very  fertile,  but  the  average  growing 
season  there  sees  but  one  hour  and  forty  minutes  of  sun- 
shine during  the  day.   This  means  that  without  constant  care 
crops  will  not  grow  rapidly  and  often  are  spoiled  by  mildew. 
In  many  parts  of  Eussia  there  is  so  short  a  summer  and  so 
little  sunshine  that  not  only  are  the  crops  affected  but  the 
people  lose  courage.    There  is  hardly  a  spot  in  the  United 
States  that  does  not  see  sunshine  every  week  in  the  year. 
We  have  enough  sunshine  and  enough  rain  to  make  crops 
good  and  the  people  cheerful. 

America  is  not  yet  Crowded 

15.  Although  an  endless  procession  of  immigrants  have 
been  coming  to  this  country  for  many  years  —  in  a  single 
year  over  a  million  came  —  there  is   still  room  for  more. 
There  is  still  fertile  land,  acres  of  it,  waiting  for  strong  arms 
to  make  it  yield  wheat  and  com.    Some  of  the  people  who 
come  to  us  are  land  hungry.    In  many  other  countries  all  the 
land  is  owned  by  a  few  people,  and  no  matter  how  hard  a 
poor  man  works  and  saves  he  can  never  buy  a  home.    In 
the  Ural  Mountains  of   Eussia,  before  the  revolution,  one 
always  saw  men  in  twos  and  threes  toiling  away  from  the 
real  Eussia,  where  there  was  no  land  for  them,  into  the 
great  stretches  of  Siberia,  where  they  might,  perhaps,  find 
an  acre  of  land.    An  Englishman  who  spent  a  summer  in 
these  mountains  saw  manv  of  these  land-seekers. 


10  MY  COUNTRY 

Day  after  day  he  watched  from  his  window  the  men  who 
had  turned  their  backs  on  friends  and  relatives  and  had  set 
out  on  a  long,  weary  pilgrimage.  Always  they  plodded  on- 
ward slowly  and  patiently,  in  heat  and  dust.  Now  and 
again  they  would  stop  at  a  house  to  rest  and  make  for 


The  Endless  Stream  of  Immigrants  to  America 
In  one  year  more  than  a  million  came 

themselves  a  hot  dish  of  tea.  Often  the  Englishman  talked 
with  them  as  they  rested  and  drank.  To  his  question  as  to 
where  they  were  going  and  what  they  sought  so  far  from 
home,  always  the  answer  was  the  same,  "We  go  to  Siberia 
to  get  land."  Land  to  them  meant  more  than  gold;  it  was 
wealth  and  happiness. 


AMERICA  —  WHAT  18  IT?  11 

16.  In  America  there  is  still  land.    And  all  the  world  knows 
this.  America  has  gold,  land,  —  fertile  land,  —  and  sunshine. 
It  is  no  wonder,  then,  that  children  thousands  of  miles  away 
think  of  it  as  a  kind  of  paradise. 

The  People  in  America 

17.  But  when  we  speak  of  America  we  mean  not  only  its 
land  and  its  wealth  but  also  its  people.    There  are  over  a 
hundred  million  people  in  the  United  States,  and  they  are  very 
much  like  their  piece  of  continent.  Not  only  has  nature  set  the 
doors  of  the  country  wide  open,  hut  she  has  made  the  people 
warm-hearted  and  generous.  They  have  been  eager  and  earnest, 
hard-working,  full  of  faith  in  themselves  and  in  others. 

18.  Do  you  suppose  that  if  the  only  people  in  the  United 
States  to-day  were  Indians,  who  lived  in  wigwams  and  car- 
ried tomahawks  in  their  belts,  there  would  be  boatloads  of 
Armenian,  Russian,  Syrian  families  hurrying  to  get  over  here  ? 
Of  course  not.    Yet  there  was  as  much  land  and  sunshine 
and  gold  here  when  the  Indians  had  everything  to  them- 
selves as  there  is  now.    What  makes  the  difference  ?    It  is 
the  people  and  the  nation  they  have  built  up.    In  the  next 
chapter  we  shall  learn  something  about  the  American  people. 

QUESTIONS  AND  PROBLEMS 

1.  Tell  what  children  in  other  countries  think  about  America. 

2.  Which  of  the  children  mentioned  in  the  text  do  you 
think  came  nearest  to  telling  what  America  really  is  ? 

3.  People  in  England  and  in  Europe  have  often  said  that 
Americans  talk  too  much  and  too  loudly  and  are  ill-mannered. 
Charles   Dickens,  the   author  of  "David    Copperfield,"   who 
visited  this  country  about  fifty  years  ago,  said: 


12  MY  COUNTRY 

I  have  met  thousands  of  people  of  all  ranks  and  grades,  but  have 
never  once  been  asked  an  offensive  or  impolite  question.  The  com- 
mon men  render  you  assistance  in  the  streets,  and  would  revolt  from 
the  offer  of  a  piece  of  money.  .  .  .  They  are  friendly,  earnest, 
hospitable,  frank,  fervent,  enthusiastic. 

Do  you  think  that  Dickens's  description  would  fit  the  Americans 
to-day,  or  are  those  who  call  us  ill-mannered  correct  ? 

4.  What  is  the  difference  between  America  and  the  United 
States  ?   Do  you  know  any  other  country  besides  ours  which 
also  has  "  United  States  "  as  a  part  of  its  name  ? 

5.  Locate  the  United  States  on  the  map  and  point  out  its 
principal  rivers  and  mountains.    Show  also  where  its  chief 
coal,  iron,  and  copper  mines  are. 

6.  What  are  the  doorways  of  the  United  States?   Compare 
them  with  those  of  Russia,  Switzerland,  and  China. 

7.  What  do  we  mean  when  we  say  the  United  States  is 
a  rich  country? 

8.  What  country  is  three  times  as  large  as  the  United 
States  ? 

9.  Why  are  we  fortunate  to  have  the  Mississippi  River 
and  the  Great  Lakes  ?    You  have  learned  about  these  in  your 
geography. 

10.  The  text  says  that  "Nature  has  smiled  on  America." 
Explain  what  this  means. 

11.  Compare  our  climate  with  that  of  England. 

12.  Many  Russians  come  to  this  country  every  year.    What 
is  one  reason  for  this  ?    (You  will  learn  about  other  reasons 
later.) 

13.  In  a  New  England  town  one  third  of  the  population 
is  Portuguese.    These  people  own  two  thirds  of  all  the  houses. 
Why  is  it,  do  you  suppose,  that  such  people  often  are  more 
anxious  to  buy  homes  than  those  who  are  born  in  this  country  ? 


AMERICA  — WHAT  IS  IT?  13 

14.  Hundreds  of  Americans  have  mortgaged  their  houses  in 
order  to  buy  automobiles.    Such  persons  are  both  foolish  and 
unpatriotic.    Can  you  tell  one  reason  why?    (The  text  does 
not  tell  you.) 

15.  What  do  we  mean  when  we  say  that  "America  is  not 
crowded"? 

16.  Besides  land  and  wealth,  what  is  our  country? 

17.  The  United  States  now  feeds  and  clothes  over  100,- 
000,000  persons,  but  when  the  Indians  had  the  continent  to 
themselves,  this  same  land  did  not  keep  250,000  persons  from 
hunger.    Can  you  explain  this  ? 


The  Great  Stone  Face 


14 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  PEOPLE  OF  AMERICA 
The  Great  Stone  Face 

1.  In  the  northern  part  of  New  Hampshire  nature  has 
carved  in  solid  rock  on  a  mountain  top  a  Great  Stone  Face. 
It  is  a  face  that  awes  the  passer-by  —  so  strong  and  calm 
it  seems.    When  Daniel  Webster  was  asked  to  explain  this 
he  is  said  to  have  made  this  reply : 

"  You  merchants  of  the  city  display  signs  outside  your  doors 
to  indicate  what  goods  you  make  there ;  the  Almighty  has  placed 
his  sign  on  that  cliff  to  indicate  that  he  makes  men  here." 

America  is  the  land  that  makes  rugged  men.   The  men  with 
weak  bodies  and  weak  faces  are  not  true  Americans. 

Americans  are  not  like  the  People  of  Any  Other  Country 

2.  Lincoln  and  all  other  true  Americans  have  been  a 
little  unlike  the  men  of  any  other  land.    The  American  is  a 
little  taller,  a  little  broader  shouldered.    His  stride  is  longer 
and  his  gait  is  quicker.    He  holds  his  shoulders  back,  his 
head  up,  and  looks  the  whole  world  in  the  face.    Even  if 
his  pockets  are  empty  he  is  afraid  of  nothing.    America  is 
the  one  country  in  the  world  where  each  man  has  the  same 
chance  as  every  other  man.    Whether  he  was  born  in  Ohio 
or  in  Italy  does  not  matter.    If  he  is  brave  and  patient,  not 
afraid  of  years  of  the  hardest  kind  of  work,  he  will  win 

15 


MY  COUNTRY 

success  and  happiness. 
Lincoln  died  more  than 
fifty  years  ago ;  yet  to-day 
there  is  the  same  chance 
for  a  poor  boy  to  climb 
the  ladder  of  success  and 
to  help  the  nation. 

The  Face  of  an  American 

3.  One  day  in  London 
an  Italian  was  grinding 
away  at  his  hand  organ 
on  a  busy  corner.  He 
had  been  playing  English 
airs,  but  after  watching  a 
well-dressed  man  in  front 
of  a  near-by  store  he  be- 
gan to  play  "The  Star- 
Spangled  Banner."  It  was 
squeaky-wheezy  music,  but 
the  man  turned  quickly 
and  asked  the  Italian  why 
he  played  the  American 
national  song  in  London. 
"  Me  see  you.  You  Amer- 
ica-man. You  no  look  like 
Englishman.  Me  no  tell 
why.  America-man  like 

America  music."  And  the 
Abraha™  LincoJn- ^American     ^  ^^  ^  ^ 

Although  the   man   had 


THE  PEOPLE  OF  AMERICA  17 

not  spoken  a  word,  the  Italian  saw  something  in  his  face 
and  bearing  that  spoke  of  America. 

4.  During  the  summer  of  1916-1917  an  American  trav- 
eled  through  Europe.     Everywhere  —  in   Serbia,  Kumania,. 
Russia,  Italy  —  he  saw  in  the  armies  men  who  had  lived  in 
the  United  States,  but  who,  when  war  was  declared,  had 
gone  back  to  fight  for  the  mother  country.    Always  there 
was  something  in  the  faces  of  these  men  that  made  them 
different  from  the  others.    America  had  left  its  stamp  on 
them.    The  traveler  would  ask,  "  Are  you  from  America  ? " 
and  the  eager  answer  would  be,  "  Yes ;  and  when  the  war 
is  over,  I  am  going  back." 

Young  America 

5.  An  English  singer  had  been  singing  to  the  soldiers 
of  France  and  Belgium.    He  went  from  camp  to  camp,  from 
hospital  to  hospital.  Finally  he  came  to  America.   He  visited 
one  of  the  large  training  camps  in  New  York  State,  and  as 
four  thousand  boys  gathered  around  him  in  the  evening,  he 
told  them  of  what  he  had  seen  in  the  trenches.    Suddenly 
he  stopped  talking.  A  look  of  admiration  came  into  his  eyes. 
He  drew  himself  up  straight,  brought  his  heels  together  and 
his  hand  to  his  forehead : 

w  Soldiers  of  America,  I  salute  you ! " 

6.  These  words  rang  out  like  a  bugle  call.    For  an  instant 
there  was  a  hush.    Then  cheer  upon  cheer  rose  to  the  very 
sky.   The  boys  knew  that  the  Englishman  had  paid  them  the 
greatest  compliment  in  his  power.    He  could  not  have  given 
a  prouder  salute  if  he  had  been  in  the  presence  of  General 
Washington  himself.    Why  did  he  do  this  ?  Would  he  have 


18  MY  COUNTRY 

saluted  any  group  of  young  men  training  to  fight  ?  He  knew 
that  he  was  not  saluting  officers,  not  even  trained  soldiers. 
But  he  saw  in  the  clear  eyes,  the  set  mouths,  the  sturdy 
forms  before  him,  the  finest  soldiers  that  the  world  has  ever 
seen  —  young  Americans. 

7.  A  few  days  later  a  group  of  New  York  business  men 
visited  the  same  camp.    They  were  business  men  who  had 
made  fortunes  and  were  known  the  world  over  for  their 
achievements.    As  they  watched  the  boys  drill,  one  of  them 
said,  "  Wealth  could  not  buy  soldiers  like  that ! "  And  again 
and  again  these  men  saluted  not  only  the  flag  but  the  lines 
of  khaki-clad  boys.    What  was  it  that  made  wealthy  busi- 
ness men  stand  at  salute  while  boys  who  were  poor  clerks 
and  bookkeepers,  carpenters  and  farmers,  filed  past  ?  They 
were  saluting  the  spirit  of  America.    A  boy  who  is  just  out 
of  school,  and  is  only  beginning  to  climb  the  ladder  of  suc- 
cess, has  as  much  of  this  spirit  of  America  in  him  as  the 
head  of  the  firm  for  which  he  works. 

Americans  do  not  fear  Poverty 

8.  The  chief  reason  why  the  people  who  live  in  America 
stand  straighter  and  look  happier  is  because  they  have  no 
fear  in  their  hearts.    The  two  things  which  people  fear  most 
are  poverty  and  tyranny.    As  we  shall  show  in  a  later  chap- 
ter, there  are  poor  people  in  the  United  States,  but  many 
of  them  are  poor  because  they  are  weak  or  ignorant  or  have 
met  with   some   great   misfortune.     Except   in   such   cases 
poverty  can  be  conquered  in  America.    Sometimes  it  takes 
a  stiff  fight,  but  it  can  always  be  done.    This  is  not  true  in 
all  countries.    In  certain  parts  of  Europe  there  is  not  work 
enough    for    everybody;    therefore    some    of    the    people 


THE  PEOPLE  OF  AMERICA 


19 


must  always  be  a  little  hungry,  always  poorly  clad.  In  the 
United  States  the  poor  need  not  stay  poor,  for  there  is  more 
work  than  workers.  Much  of  the  work  to  be  done  is  not 
easy  and  may  never  bring  wealth.  But  each  year,  if  the 
worker  is  patient  and  saving,  he  gets  a  little  farther  away 
from  poverty.  So  even 
our  poor  people  do  not 
have  the  look  of  fear 
in  their  eyes. 

Americans  do  not  fear 
Tyranny 

9.  Tyranny  is  another 
thing  which  makes  men 
so  fearful  that  their 
eyes,  their  step,  their 
whole  appearance,  show 
it.  Once  there  was 
tyranny  in  the  United 
States.  This  was  when 
George  the  Third  and 
a  handful  of  men 
thought  they  could  get 
money  by  taxing  the 

American  colonists.  The  people  were  treated  like  naughty 
children,  and  not  like  free  men  and  women.  It  was  this 
tyranny  that  brought  on  the  Revolutionary  War.  Since  that 
war  we  have  governed  ourselves.  We  have  done  away  with 
kings.  We  now  choose  our  friends  and  neighbors  to  govern 
us.  Tyranny  has  never  existed  in  this  country  long  enough 
to  make  men  fearful.  Sometimes  a  few  men  will  act  unjustly 


The  Young  American  looks  the  Whole 
World  in  the  Face 


20  MY  COUNTRY 

toward  those  less  fortunate  than  they,  but  they  always  are 
found  out.  If  there  is  tyranny  anywhere,  it  is  because  true 
Americans  do  not  know  about  it.  We  want  everyone  to 
have  eyes  that  never  have  the  look  of  fear  in  them. 

10.  When  you  meet  people  on  the  street,  in  the  cars, 
and  in  business  offices,  search  their  faces.     Do  you  see  fear 


The  Kind  of  Happy  Faces  that  America  wants 

there?  If  you  do,  try  to  find  out  what  causes  it.  Perhaps 
you  will  find  some  way  to  help.  And  if  you  live  in  a  town 
where  most  of  the  people  are  timid  and  fearful,  find  the 
cause.  Even  the  pupils  in  school  may  be  able  to  do  some- 
thing to  remove  the  cause  of  the  fear.  Perhaps  in  your 
town  or  city  there  are  people  like  the  Poles,  who  are  de- 
scribed below,  whom  you  can  help. 


THE  PEOPLE  OF  AMERICA  21 

Sometimes  through  Ignorance  foreigners  fear  our 
Government 

11.  The  state  of  Massachusetts  tries  to  take  care  of  all 
its  poor  blind  people.    It  has  a  woman  worker  who  gives 
her  whole  time  to  looking  up  blind  babies.    Many  times  a 
baby  becomes  blind  through  the  ignorance  of  its  mother. 
Sore  eyes  are  often  harmless,  but  sometimes  the  cause  of 
the  soreness  leads  to  complete  loss  of  sight.    The  state  wants 
to  show  mothers  how  to  prevent  sore  eyes  from  becoming 
blind  eyes.    One  day  this  worker  went  to  a  city  where 
many  Polish  people  lived.    At  every  house  the  people  talked 
unwillingly.   They  seemed  to  be  afraid  of  something.  Finally 
she  went  to  their  priest  and  said :  "  I  have  been  in  every 
town  in  the  state,  but  nowhere  have  the  people  acted  so 
strangely  as  here.    What  is  the  trouble  ?  " 

12.  The  priest  explained  that  in  Poland  the  "state"  or 
"  government "  was  always  something  to  be  feared,  especially 
by  the  poor  people.    For  this  reason  the  Polish  women  were 
afraid  that  Massachusetts'  state  worker  intended  to  do  them 
some  harm. 

13.  After  a  little  the  Poles  learned  that  in  America  the 
government  wanted  only  to  help  keep  trouble  away  from 
them,  not  bring  it  to  them.    Then,  whenever  the  state  worker 
visited  this  city,  the  Polish  women  told  her  all  their  troubles, 
showed  her  their  babies,  and  urged  her  to  break  bread  with 
them  as  a  sign  of  good  will. 

The  American  People  and  their  Continent 

14.  The  American  people  have  worked  hard.    They  had 
nothing  to  do  with  the  wonders  that  nature  put  in  this 
continent,  but  they  have  made  use  of  them.    They  have 


22  MY  COUNTRY 

mined  the  iron  and  turned  it  into  machinery  for  making 
shoes  and  clothing  and  luxuries.  They  have  mined  the 
coal  and,  by  using  this  with  the  water  of  the  rivers  and 
lakes,  they  have  made  power  to  run  factories.  They  have 
used  the  oil  to  run  engines,  automobiles,  and  warships.  We 
could  fill  a  book  with  the  list  of  things  which  Americans 
have  accomplished.  They  have  turned  our  Western  deserts 
into  fertile  country,  have  harnessed  the  power  of  Niagara 
Falls,  and  have  even  sawed  the  great  American  continent 
in  two.  It  makes  every  American  proud  to  know  that  it 
was  one  of  his  countrymen  who 

"  Went  down  to  Panama 
Where  many  a  man  had  died, 
To  slit  the  sliding  mountains 
And  lift  the  eternal  tide. 
A  man  stood  up  in  Panama, 
And  the  mountains  stood  aside." 

15.  Many  of  the  most  important  modern  inventions  have 
been  made  by  Americans  —  the  steamboat,  the  cotton  gin, 
the  telephone,  the  telegraph,  the  submarine,  the  elevator, 
the  reaper,  the  phonograph,  the  electric  light. 

Building  a  Nation 

16.  But  the   most  important  thing  that   the  people  of 
America  have  done  is   to  build  a  nation.    A  nation  is  a 
group  of  people  who  are  under  one  government.    Switzer- 
land is  a  nation,  Greece  is  a  nation,  so  are  England,  Spain, 
France,  and  Germany.    Evidently  there  is  nothing  unusual 
about    being    a   nation.    But    nations   are   as    different   as 
different  strips  of  continent. 


THE  PEOPLE  OF  AMEKICA 


23 


17.  In  three  ways  the  American  nation  is  unlike  most 
others.    It  is  young,  it  was  founded  on  liberty,  and  it  is  being 
made  by  the  people  —  not  some  of  the  people,  but  all  of 
the  people,  the  rich  and  poor,  those  born  here  and  those 
born  in  foreign  countries. 

The  English  nation  is  nearly 
a  thousand  years  old.  The 
American  nation  was  not 
born  until  after  the  Bevo- 
lutionary  War. 

Who  builds  the  Nation  ? 

18.  America  at  first  was 
only  a  part  of  the  English 
nation,  and  the  only  gov- 
ernment   the    people   had 
was  given  to  them.    When 
they  won  the  Eevolutionary 
War  they  began  to  build  a 
nation  for  themselves.    As 
the  older  people  have  died 
the    younger     ones    have 
taken  up  the  work.    Your 
great  grandparents  helped 
build  the  nation  by  clearing 

the  land,  building  ships,  starting  schools  and  colleges.  Your 
grandfathers  helped  by  building  factories  and  laying  across- 
the-continent  railroads.  Your  fathers  and  mothers  have 
helped  by  making  useful  inventions  and  by  improving  houses, 
roads,  and  factories.  They  and  your  older  brothers  helped 
by  fighting  the  greatest  enemy  that  the  free  nations  ever  had. 


A  Sturdy  Young  American 


24  MY  COUNTRY 

Dead  Nations 

19.  No  living  nation  is  ever  finished.  There  is  always 
something  to  change  or  improve.  Sometimes  a  nation  dies. 
Ancient  Eome  and  Egypt  once  were  rich  and  powerful.  But 
to-day  they  are  so  dead  that  even  the  languages  which  they 
spoke  are  called  dead  languages.  Whether  or  not  the 
American  nation  dies  depends  on  its  builders.  The  builders 
of  to-day  are  doing  heroic  and  noble  deeds.  What  will  the 
builders  of  to-morrow  do  ?  Will  they  be  defenders  of  liberty, 
without  which  no  nation  can  endure  ? 

QUESTIONS  AND  PROBLEMS 

1.  Study  the  picture  of  the  Great  Stone  Face.    It  is  said 
that  the  Indians  worshiped  this  as  a  kind  of  god.    Imagine 
that  you  are  an  Indian  and  want  to  describe  this  face  to  another 
Indian  who  has  never  seen  it.    You  first  saw  it  from  the  valley 
below.    Be  prepared  to  give  this  description  orally. 

2.  What  is  a  rugged  face  ?    People  sometimes  say  that  a 
person  has  a  rugged  character.  What  do  you  think  they  mean  ? 

3.  Describe  the  personal  appearance  of  Lincoln.    Describe 
his  character. 

4.  The  director  of  the  Harvard  University  gymnasium  has 
found  by  testing  thousands  of  men  and  comparing  these  fig- 
ures with  those  of  other  countries  that  Americans  are  a  little 
taller,  broader,  and  healthier  than  other  people.    (1)  Can  you 
tell  why  ?   Perhaps  if  you  remember  that  Lincoln  was  such  a 
person,  you  can  more  easily  think  out  the  reason.    (2)  Who  is 
the  strongest,  biggest  person  that  you  know  ?   Ask  this  person 
why  he  thinks  he  has  health  and  strength. 

5.  Why  did  the  organ  grinder  in  London  recognize  the 
American  ?    6.  Why  did  the  English  singer  salute  the  boys  in 
the  training  camp  as  if  they  had  been  experienced  officers  ? 


THE  PEOPLE  OF  AMERICA  25 

7.  In  a  later  chapter  we  shall  learn  that  the  American 
army  has  never  known  defeat.    Can  you  think  of  one  reason  ? 

8.  In  America  the  newsboy  holds  his  head  as  erect,  walks 
with  as  eager  a  stride,  and  is  as  happy  as  the  millionaire  to 
whom  he  sells  the  morning  newspaper.    Can  you  tell  why  ? 

9.  Have  you  ever  seen  a  look  of  fear  on  a  person's  face  ? 
(1)  If  so,  describe  it.    What  caused  it?    (2)  What  are  most 
people  afraid  of?    (3)  Why  are  most  of  the  people  in  the 
United  States  free  from  fear  ? 

10.  What  is  tyranny  ?  Have  you  ever  seen  a  tyrant,  either 
in  real  life  or  in  a  picture  ?    If  so,  describe  him. 

11.  In  some  countries  the  people  fear  their  government. 
Why  ?     12.  In  the  United  States  only  a  few  people  need  to 
be  afraid  of  the  government.     Can  you  think  who  these  are  ? 
The  text  does  not  tell  you. 

13.  Is  there  anybody  that  you  are  afraid  of?    You  need 
not  tell  the  name  of  the  person,  if  there  is  one,  but  tell  why 
you  have  any  fear  of  him  or  her. 

14.  What  have  the  American  people  done  to  make  their 
country  wonderful  ? 

15.  Goethals  was  the  man  who  "stood  up  in  Panama,  and 
the  mountains  stood  aside."    Tell  all  that  you  can  about  him. 
Can  you  name  another  American  who  has  done  a  valuable  piece 
of  work  for  the  nation  ? 

16.  Name  five  important  inventions  made  by  Americans. 

17.  What  is  a  nation  ?   Is  South  America  a  nation  ?  Explain 
your  answer.     18.  In  what  two  ways   is  the   United  States 
unlike  other  nations  ? 

19.  How  can  a  nation  be  built  ?    Who  has  built  our  nation  ? 

20.  What  is  a  dead  nation?    Do  you  think  America  will 
ever  die?    Give  reasons  for  your  answer. 

21.  How  can  you  help  build  the  nation  ? 


Copr.  Brown  Brothers 

The  Most  Famous  Statue  in  the  World 


26 


CHAPTER  III 

AMEEICA  AND  LIBERTY 

Love  of  Home 

1.  Five  days'  journey  from  land  in  the  southern  Atlantic 
Ocean,  halfway  between  Africa  and   South  America,  is  a 
rocky  little  island  called  Tristan  da  Cunha.    Vessels  which 
are  passing  from  Africa  to  South  America  sometimes  stop 
here,  but  for  months  at  a  time  the  handful  of  island  people 
see  only  distant  sails.    The  island  is  in  the  path  of  the 
terrible  storms   which  sweep  over  that  part  of  the  ocean 
during  certain  seasons  of  the  year.    For  long  dreary  weeks 
clouds  and  mists  shut  out  the  sun.     Because  there  is  no 
timber  the  people  live  in  huts  made  of  unmortared  piles  of 
rough  stones  thatched  with  grass.    They  have  no  grain,  for 
the  island  is  so  infested  with  rats  that  any  which  they  grow 
is  eaten  by  these  small  animals.     They  live  on   fish  and 
whatever  foods  are  washed  up  from  wrecked  vessels.    Some- 
times, when  they  see  a  distant  sail  or  the  smoke  of  a  steam- 
boat that  will  pass  near  them,  they  row  out  to  hail  the 
vessel  in  the  hope  of  buying  supplies. 

2.  When  the  British  government  learned  of  the  condition 
of  these  people,  it  offered  to  move  them  and  their  poor  little 
possessions  to  England  or  Australia  or  any  other  part   of 
British  soil,  and  to  help  them  get  a  new  start  in  life.     But, 
strange  as  it  may  seem,  not  a  man  wanted  to  leave.    The 
bleak  island  was  their  home.    They  had  built  humble  little 

27 


28  MY  COUNTRY 

huts,  had  learned  to  love  the  hard  life,  the  storms  and 
waves  that  beat  on  the  rocky  shores,  and  they  wanted  to 
live  and  die  there. 

What  Love  of  Home  Means 

3.  Almost  all  people  have  this  love  of  home,  a  strong 
love  for  some  place  —  an  island,  a  town,  a  mountain.    They 
are  eager  to  work  for  their  home  and  even  to  fight  for  it 
if  necessary.    When  the  people  of  Tristan  da  Cunha  refused 
to  give  up  their  island  for  a  sunnier  home,  where  they  would 
have  more  food,  more  clothes,  more  pleasure,  England  did  not 
try  to  force  them  to  leave  and  did  not  interfere  in  any  way 
with  their  habits  of  living.    The  British  government  said: 

We  should  like  to  help  make  you  more  comfortable,  but  we 
have  no  right  to  force  you  to  leave  the  homes  you  have  built 
with  so  much  sacrifice. 

4.  But  not  all  people  are  so  fortunate  as  those  on  this 
bleak  little  island  of  Tristan  da  Cunha.    We  all  know  of 
the  Lithuanians,  for  there  are  many  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  them  in  the  United  States.    They  have  no  real  home. 
For  hundreds   of  years   they  have  been   driven  about  by 
the  Eussians  and  the   Germans,  always   at   the  mercy  of 
some  nation  that  was  more  powerful   than   they.     When 
Germany  invaded  Belgium  in  1914  and,  after  burning  vil- 
lages and  towns,  sent  thousands  of  men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren into  Germany  to  work  in  the  factories,  in  mines,  and 
even  to  fight  in  the  trenches  against  their  own  relatives,  she 
was  doing  what  no  nation,  however  great  and  powerful,  has 
a  right  to  do  even  in  time  of  war.   She  was  depriving  humble, 
home-loving  people  of  their  homes  and  of  their  liberty. 


AMEEICA  AND  LIBERTY  29 

Home  and  Liberty 

5.  In  America  the  government  cannot  deprive  any  man, 
woman,  or  child  of  home  or  of  liberty  unless  the  person 
commits   a  crime  or   has   some   disease  which  makes  him 
a  menace  to  everybody  else.    A  man  who  kills  another  or 
who  robs  a  safe  is  shut  up  in  prison.   A  man  who  drinks 
or  takes  drugs  until  he  finally  becomes  insane  and  danger- 
ous is  shut  up  in  an  institution  and  deprived  of  his  liberty. 
There  are  some  diseases,  like  leprosy,  so  deadly  that  the 
mere  touch  of  the  hand  of  the  afflicted  person  will  spread 
the  infection.    On  one  of  the  prettiest  islands  along  the  New 
England  coast  lives  a  colony  of  these  unfortunate  lepers. 
On  the  island  of  Culion  in  the  Philippines  there  are  also 
over  six  thousand  of  them.    The  United  States  gives  them 
comfortable  homes,  plenty  of  books  to  read,  and  everything 
they  want  except  the  one  great  thing  —  their  liberty.     No 
matter  how  long    they  live  they   can    never   revisit  their 
homes  or  their  friends.     This  seems   cruel,  but  if  leprosy 
should  spread  among  the  people  the  whole  nation  might 
be  doomed. 

The  People  of  America  have  Liberty 

6.  Except  for  criminals  and  persons  afflicted  with  terrible 
diseases,  the  United  States  does  not  deprive  even  the  hum- 
blest person  of  his  home  or  his  liberty.    In  the  large  cities 
like  New  York,   Chicago,  St.  Louis,  there  are  often  more 
people  than  positions.  At  the  same  time,  in  the  Dakota  and 
Minnesota  wheat  fields,  in  the  cotton  plantations  of  the 
South,  or  in  the  coal  mines  of  Pennsylvania,  there  may  not 
be  enough  workers  to  harvest  the  crops  or  to  mine  the  coal. 


30 


MY  COUNTEY 


It  would  almost  seem  that  for  the  good  of  the  nation  the 
government  would  force  the  unemployed  men  and  boys  in 
the  cities  to  go  to  the  wheat  fields  and  coal  mines.  But  no. 
All  that  the  government  can  do  is  to  issue  posters  and  insert 
advertisements  in  the  newspapers,  urging  those  who  are  out 
of  employment  to  go  where  there  is  work. 


In  America  the  Humblest  Person  cannot  be  deprived  of  his  Home 

7.  During  the  Great  War  the  munitions  factories  and  the 
shops  which  were  making  cloth  and  shoes  for  the  soldiers 
ran  day  and  night.  This  took  so  many  men  and  women 
that  there  were  not  enough  left  to  do  other  kinds  of  work. 
In  the  South  were  many  unemployed  negroes,  but  our  gov- 
ernment did  not  force  any  of  them  to  work  in  the  North. 
Many  of  them  did  go  North,  but  it  was  because  they  wished 
to,  and  they  were  free  to  return  at  any  time. 


AMERICA  AND  LIBERTY  31 

Countries  like  America  do  not  deprive  People  of  Liberty 

8.  In  1916  trainloads  of  Chinese  coolies  passed  through 
Canada  to  Halifax.    There  they  were  put  on  board  fast  ships 
for  France.    They  were  going  to   work  in  the  fields  and 
mines   of   France  and   Belgium.     The   British  and   French 
governments  were  paying  all  their  expenses,  but  the  Chinese 
had  not  been  compelled  to  leave  their  homes.    England  and 
France,  like  America,  now  believe  that  every  man  should 
be  free  to  go  and  come  as  he  pleases,  to  have  his  home 
where  he  likes,  and  to  work  in  the  city  or  in  the  country  — 
wherever  he  chooses. 

9.  In  America  a  man  who  lives  on  a  farm  in  Maine  can, 
if  he  wishes,  sell  his  farm,  take  his  family  to  California,  buy 
an  orange  grove,  and  live  there  the  rest  of  his  days.    He 
has  to  ask  no  one's  permission  either  to  leave  Maine  or  to 
enter  California.    A  young  man  who  works  in  a  bank  in  the 
city  may  wish  to  change  his  work  and  become  a  traveling 
salesman.     He  may  go  to  his  friends  for  advice,  but  he  has 
to  ask  no  one's  permission  to  leave  one  position  for  another. 
Just  as  each  person  can  choose  his  own  occupation,  so  he 
can  also  decide  for  himself  what   church   he  will  attend. 
The  person  who  lives  in  America  has  perfect  freedom  so 
long  as  he  does  nothing  that  injures  others. 

The  One  Word  that  best  represents  America 

10.  If   only   one  noun   could  be  used  to   represent  this 
country,  what  would  it  be  ?    It  is  a  word  that  has  appeared 
on  our  coins  and  is  repeated  again  and  again  in  our  histories. 
It  is  a  word  that  brave  men  have  had  on  their  lips  when 
they  died.    It  is  a  word  that  every  true  American  soldier 


32  MY  COUNTRY 

and  sailor  sees  in  his  imagination  when  he  looks  at  the 
Stars  and  Stripes  floating  in  the  breeze.  It  is  a  word  that 
to  many  people  in  other  lands  always  suggests  America. 
This  word  is  "Liberty." 

The  Most  Famous  Statue  in  the  World 

11.  The  most  famous  statue  in  the  world  is  located  in  the 
United  States.    It  is  the  statue  of  a  woman.    So  huge  is  her 
figure  that  forty  persons  can  stand  within  her  head,  and  a 
broad  staircase  extends  into  her  outstretched  arm.     From 
the  base  of  the  statue  to  its  highest  point  is  one  hundred 
and  fifty-one  feet.   Men,  women,  and  children  who  live  thou- 
sands of  miles  away  have  heard  of  this  statue  and  speak  its 
name  almost  with  reverence. 

12.  Why  do  people  who  have  never  been  in  America  and 
who  cannot  speak  our  language  know  about  this  statue? 
Not  because  it  is  the  largest  in  the  world;  not  because  it 
is  wonderfully  beautiful,  for  it  does  not  have  great  beauty ; 
but  because  the  bronze  figure  is  that  of  a  goddess  who  holds 
aloft  in  her  right  hand  the  great  torch  of  liberty.    If  this 
were  called  the  Statue  of  Commerce,  distant  lands   would 
know  or  care  little  about  it. 

13.  This  Statue  of  Liberty  stands  on  Bedloe's  Island,  in 
New  York  Harbor,  and  at  night  throws  its  light  many  miles 
over  the  waters.    Each  year  thousands  of  immigrants  pass 
it  on  their  long  voyage  from  distant  countries  to  America. 
One  day,  on  a  steamer  that  had  been  nearly  three  weeks  in 
making  the  journey  from  Riga  to  New  York,  were  a  Russian 
peasant,  his  wife,  mother,  and  five  children.    They  had  no 
trunks,  only  big  bundles  which  contained  all  they  could 


AMEEICA  AND  LIBERTY  33 

bring  with  them.  The  children  had  been  seasick  and  were 
cold,  tired,  and  hungry.  But  when  one  of  the  boat's  crew 
said  that  they  were  entering  New  York  bay,  although  the 
sun  was  not  up  they  crowded  to  the  rail,  straining  their  eyes 
through  the  dim  light  for  something.  It  was  the  ten-year-old 
boy  who  first  cried  out,  "  See,  there ! "  And  the  father  said 
in  a  husky  voice  to  his  old  mother,  whose  eyes  were  too  old 
to  see,  "Yes,  it  is  Leebertee!"  The  aged  grandmother,  as 
well  as  the  youngest  child,  felt  a  thrill  to  know  that  at  last 
they  had  reached  the  Statue  of  Liberty  and  the  great  country 
of  liberty  about  which  they  had  talked  for  so  many  years. 

The  Word  "  Liberty  "  in  our  History 

14.  How  important  the  word  "  liberty  "  has  always  been  in 
this  country  is  shown  by  the  number  of  times  it  has  been 
used  in  naming  bells  and  trees  and  buildings  and  societies. 
During  the  stormy  days  that  preceded  the  Ee  volution,  in 
every  colony  men  pledged   themselves    to  insist    on    their 
rights.   They  called  themselves  the  Sons  of  Liberty.    One  day 
the  British  captain  of  an  armed  vessel  tried  to  force  Boston 
citizens  into  the  service  of  England.    The  next  day  a  placard 
was  posted  about  the  town  calling  on  the  Sons  of  Liberty 
to  assemble  at  Liberty  Hall,  a  name  given  to  the  space 
around  the  Liberty  Tree. 

15.  The  famous  Liberty  Tree  of  Boston  was  a  large  elm, 
standing  in  a  grove  at  the  corner  of  what  is  now  Washington 
and  Essex  streets.    A  staff  was  fastened  to  the  trunk  of  the 
tree  and  rose  far  above  its  spreading  top.    From  this,  in 
times  of  public  excitement,  floated  a  Union  flag,  but  with 
what  particular  motto  we  do  not  know.    In  June,  1768,  a  red 


34 


MY  COUNTRY 


flag  was  fastened  to  the  tree,  with  a  paper  attached  urging 
the  people  to  rise  and  clear  the  country  of  the  king's  cus- 
toms officers.  The  elm  was  finally  cut  down  and  used  for 
fuel  by  the  king's  troops. 

16.  The  people  of  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  also  had  a 
Liberty  Tree  —  a  live  oak,  near  the  residence  of  the  patriot 


Copr.  International  Film 

The  Famous  Liberty  Bell  of  Philadelphia  again  rings  for  Liberty 

Christopher  Gadsden.  Like  the  tree  of  the  North,  this  de- 
rived its  name  from  the  meetings  of  the  patriots  held  in  its 
shade  in  1764  and  later  years.  Here  the  Sons  of  Liberty  met. 
Like  the  Boston  tree,  because  of  its  historic  associations  it 
was  hated  by  the  king's  officers.  Upon  the  surrender  of 
Charleston  in  1780  it  was  cut  down  by  order  of  Sir 
Henry  Clinton  and  a  fire  made  over  its  stump. 


AMERICA  AND  LIBERTY 


35 


The  Liberty  Loans 

17.  In  1917,  when  the  United  States  went  to  war  with 
Germany,  the  word  "  liberty  "  again  became  the  most  popular 
word  in  the  United  States.  Ministers  preached  liberty  ser- 
mons, teachers  talked  about  liberty,  the  streets  were  filled 
with  liberty  posters. 
After  Congress  declared 
war  on  Germany,  it 
was  necessary  to  raise 
billions  of  dollars  to 
buy  clothes,  food,  and 
guns  for  the  army  and 
navy,  and  to  build  ships 
to  carry  troops  across 
the  Atlantic  Ocean.  The 
government  had  to  get 
this  large  sum  of  money 
from  the  people.  This 
was  not  difficult,  for 
all  the  patriotic  people 
were  eager  to  lend  their 
savings  to  the  nation. 
Almost  like  a  moun- 


Copr.  international  Film 

A  Liberty-Loan  Poster 


tain  torrent  in  the  spring,  the  dollars  poured  into  Washing- 
ton from  every  corner  of  the  United  States.  The  money  that 
the  people  lent  the  government  was  called  a  Liberty  Loan. 
18.  Three  times  in  one  year  the  President  called  on  the 
people  for  their  dollars.  When  the  first  loan  was  being 
raised,  the  famous  Liberty  Bell  in  Philadelphia,  which  had 
been  silent  for  forty-one  years,  warned  the  nation  that  their 


36  MY  COUNTRY 

freedom  was  in  peril.  When  this  bell  rang  out  its  first 
warning,  in  1776,  there  were  only  thirteen  small  colonies 
scattered  along  the  Atlantic  coast.  But  in  1917  the  liberty 
of  more  than  one  hundred  million  people,  the  largest  free 
nation  in  the  world,  was  at  stake. 

19.  That  same  year  another  famous    bell   sounded   the 
alarm.     This  was  the  one  which  hung  in  the  historic  little 
church  in  Richmond,  Virginia,  when  Patrick  Henry  spoke 
the  memorable  words,  "  Give  me  liberty,  or  give  me  death." 
On  the  day  that  the  Second  Liberty  Loan  was  started,  the 
bell  was  carried  to  the  city  hall,  and  just  at  twelve,  when 
all   the   other  bells  were   pealing  and   men  were   standing 
with  bared  heads,  it  was  struck  to  remind  the  people  that 
lives  and  money  must  always  be  the  price  of  liberty. 

Slavery  in  America 

20.  Sad  to  say,  not  always  has  there  been  liberty  for 
everyone  in  America.     Only  twelve  years  after  Jamestown, 
Virginia,  was  settled,  a  slave  ship  sailed  into  Jamestown  bay 
and  landed  twenty  negroes.    These  were  sold  to  the  planters 
to  work  in  the  tobacco  fields.   Later  more  negroes  were  brought 
in.    These  men  had  been  seized  in  Africa  and  forced  to  go 
with  their  captors.    When  they  were  sold  they  belonged  to 
their  owners  just  as  any  piece  of  property  does.   As  the  years 
went  by  and  the  United  States  became  more  prosperous;  more 
and  more  negroes  were  bought  to  help  raise  the  crops  until, 
in  1860,  there  were  about  four  million  slaves  in  this  country. 
The  word  "  liberty  "  meant  nothing  to  them.   They  had  to  live 
where  their  owners  wished  them  to  live ;  they  had  for  food 
only  what  their  owners  supplied  them.    While  most  owners 


AMERICA  AND  LIBERTY  37 

treated  their  slaves  kindly,  yet  a  negro  was  never  free  to 
choose  either  his  work  or  his  home. 

21.  Many  of  our  statesmen,  like  Washington,  did  not  be- 
lieve that  slavery  was  right.     But  it  was  not  until  almost 
fifty  years  after  Washington  freed  his  slaves  that  people 
in  all  parts  of  the  country  began  to  say  that  the  United 
States  must  do  away  with  slavery.    This  was  the  greatest 
task   that  our   famous  president  Abraham  Lincoln   accom- 
plished.   It  was  his  pen  that  gave  freedom  to  the  negroes. 
It  is  said  that  during  the  four  long,  hard  years  of  the  Civil 
War  an  anxious  look  came  into  Lincoln's  eyes  whenever  he 
stood  at  the  White  House  window  and  watched  the  Stars 
and  Stripes  floating  from  the  top  of  the  great  treasury  build- 
ing.   He  wondered  if  it  was  really  to  be  the  flag  of  freedom 
and  liberty  or  the  flag  of  a  people  that  was  half  slave  and 
half  free. 

All  of  America's  Great  Wars  have  been  Wars  of  Liberty 

22.  It  is  worth  remembering  that  the  only  great  wars 
that  the  United  States  has  fought  have  been  wars  to  win 
liberty  for  somebody.    In  the   Revolutionary  War  all  the 
colonies  fought  to  gain  liberty  to  govern  themselves  and  to 
spend  their  money  as  they  wished.    In  the  Civil  War  men 
fought  to  preserve  the  union  of  our  free  country  and  to  win 
liberty  for  the   negro.     It  was  during   this  war   that   the 
bronzed  statue  of  Armed  Liberty  was  placed  above  the  lofty 
dome  of  the  Capitol  at  Washington.     Is  it  not  fitting  that 
the  great  capital  city  of  our  nation  should  have  Liberty  for 
its  symbol?    In  the  Spanish- American  War  men  and  boys 
from  every  state  in  the  Union  fought  to  give  liberty  to  the 
Cubans.    In  the.  Great  War  of  1917  the  United  States  raised 


38  MY  COUNTRY 

an  army  to  protect  her  own  liberty,  to  help  restore  liberty 
to  the  oppressed  peoples  in  the  Old  World,  and  to  prevent 
France  and  England  from  being  deprived  of  their  liberty. 

How  we  deprived  the  Indian  of  his  Liberty 

23.  The  negroes  are  not  the  only  people  whom  we  have 
kept  from  having  full  liberty  for  many  years.    There  are 
some  pages  of  American  history  that  all  honest,  patriotic 
men  blush  to  read.    These  pages  are  the  ones  that  tell  the 
story  of-  how  the  white  men  drove  the  Indians  farther  and 
farther   west   from  the   lands   that   had  been   theirs   long 
before    white    men   had   come.     When   the   white    settlers 
wanted  a  piece  of  land,  they  often  made  the  Indians  pull 
down  their  wigwams,  load  their  ponies  with  their  furs  and 
a  few  poor  possessions,  and  go  westward. 

24.  One  day  in  1838  a  tall,  sinewy  Indian  stood  at  the 
summit  of  a  great  mountain  in  the  Southern  Appalachian 
range.    It  was  hardly  light,  and  the  red  man's  eyes  were 
fastened  on  the  sunrise  colors  that  were  beginning  to  show 
over  the  crest  of  the  mountains  to  the  east.    He  was  almost 
as  straight  and  silent  as  the  pine  trees  about  him,  and  for 
many  minutes  moved  neither  hand  nor  foot.    Even  the  loud- 
voiced  white  man,  who  carried  a  gun  on  his  shoulder  and 
came  noisily  through  the  brush,  stopped  for  a  moment,  awed 
by  the  silent  figure.    The  white  man  was  one  of  the  soldiers 
from  the  state's   troops  that  had  been  sent  to  drive  the 
Cherokee    Indians   from  their   homes.    He  knew  that  the 
dusky  chief  was  saying  his  silent  farewell  to  the  mountains 
in  which  he  had  been  born  and  in  which  he  and  his  sons 
had   brought  down  many  a  deer  and  wildcat.    Both  men 


AMERICA  AND  LIBERTY  39 

turned  for  a  moment  before  they  descended,  to  watch  an 
eagle  soaring  far  above  them.  Dulled  as  were  the  feelings 
of  the  white  man,  he  knew  that  the  Indian  was  contrasting 
his  fate  with  that  of  the  eagle. 

25.  The   Cherokee  tribe,  to   which  this  chief  belonged, 
was  the  largest  and  most  important  of  the   Indian  tribes 


Seeking  Liberty  in  America 

of  the  East.  They  were  earnest,  hard-working  Indians  who 
lived  peaceably  with  the  whites.  But  one  year  gold  was 
found  in  "the  Cherokee  country,"  and  at  once  some  of  the 
states  greedily  insisted  that  the  Indians  be  forced  to  give 
up  this  rich  territory.  The  Indians  loved  their  homes  and 
refused  to  leave  them,  until  finally,  in  1838,  soldiers  went 
into  the  mountains  and  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet  forced 
them  on  long  marches  beyond  the  Mississippi.  Thousands 


40  MY  COUNTRY 

died  on  this  journey,  and  all  mourned  the  loss  of  their 
forests.  Surely  they  could  not  have  said  that  this  was  "  the 
land  of  the  free,  and  the  home  of  the  brave." 


The  Indian  and  the  Negro  help  fight  for  Liberty 

26.  For  many  years,  however,  the  Indians  have  been  prac- 
tically as  free  as  any  white  man  to  go  where  they  please. 
The  government  has  given  them  land  and  free  schools,  so 
that  now,  after  suffering  many  years  of  injustice,  they  can 
take  some  pride  in  the  Stars  and  Stripes. 

27.  In  spite  of  the  fact  that  for  many  years  we  kept  both 
the  Indians  and  the  negroes  from  enjoying  liberty,  during  the 
Great  War,  when  the  United  States  needed  men  and  money, 
they  offered  to  help.    One  Indian  chief  went  all  the  way  to 
Washington  to    beg  the  Secretary  of  War  to  let  his  men 
patrol  the  Mexican  border  and  thus  prevent  the  Germans 
and  Mexicans  from  invading  our  Southern  states.  A  wealthy 
Creek  Indian  of  Oklahoma  bought  f  8  00,000  worth  of  Liberty 
Bonds.    In  every  state  where  there  was  an  Indian  popula- 
tion the  men  were   eager   to   fight,   and  in   Maine   every 
Passamaquoddy  Indian  of  military  age  joined  the  colors. 

28.  The  negroes  were  also  eager  to  enlist  in  the  army 
and  navy  to  fight  for  the  country  in  which  they  had  once 
been  denied  liberty.    Many  of  the  states  had  colored  regi- 
ments, which  were  as  proud  of  their  uniforms  and  their  flag 
as  any  American  regiment  could  be.    The  Secretary  of  War 
said  that  the  government  took  more  pleasure  in  the  $30,000 
which  two  hundred  negro  stevedores  in  the  navy  subscribed 
to  the  Liberty  Loan  than  in  the  millions  of  dollars  subscribed 
by  the  wealthy. 


AMERICA  AND  LIBERTY  41 

"  Slavery "  and  "  Oppression "  must  not  again  appear  in 
our  History 

29.  Every  pupil  who  salutes  the  flag  should  pledge  him- 
self never  to  treat  any  group  of  people  unjustly.  The  two 
words  "  slavery  "  and  "  oppression  "  ought  not  to  appear  on 
any  page  of  our  history  that  will  be  written  in  the  future. 
There  is  danger  that  through  ignorance  or  thoughtlessness 
some  group  of  people,  even  in  the  United  States,  may  be 
treated  unfairly.  Eternal  vigilance  is  the  price  of  liberty, 
and  the  boys  and  girls  of  to-day  must  never  cease  to  look 
for  wrongs  to  make  right. 

QUESTIONS  AND  PROBLEMS 

1.  Describe  the  Island  of  Tristan  da  Cunha.  2.  Why  did 
the  people  who  live  on  this  island  refuse  to  leave  it  ?  3.  Why 
did  not  the  British  government  force  the  people  to  leave  it  ? 

4.  Tell  about  the  home  of  the  Lithuanians.  5.  Where  did 
Germany  send  thousands  of  Belgians  ?  Did  Germany  have  a 
right  to  do  this  ?  6.  If  you  have  read  the  story  of  Evangeline, 
tell  what  people  who  are  described  in  this  story  were  driven 
from  their  homes.  Who  drove  them  ? 

7.  What  kinds  of  persons  does  the  United  States  deprive  of 
their  liberty  ?  8.  Is  this  right  ?  Why  ?  9.  Tell  several  ways 
in  which  the  people  in  America  have  liberty.  10.  In  what  part 
of  the  country  must  a  person  live  ?  Explain  your  answer. 
11.  An  Italian  once  said  that  liberty  in  America  meant  only 
"  opportunity  to  earn  a  living."  What  did  he  mean  ? 

12.  When  the  whole  nation  is  in  peril,  it  may  become 
necessary  to  take  away  some  of  the  people's  liberty  for  a  short 
time,  just  as  members  of  a  family  are  prevented  from  doing 
many  things  when  there  is  critical  illness  in  the  home.  During 


42  MY  COUNTRY 

the  Great  War  in  what  ways  did  the  United  States  deprive 
the  American  people  of  full  liberty?  13.  Explain  also  why  it 
was  right  for  the  government  to  do  this. 

14.  What  one  word  best  represents  America?  Why?  15.  De- 
scribe the  most  famous  statue  in  the  world.  Why  is  it  famous  ? 

16.  Give  five  names  in  which  the  word  "liberty"  appears. 

17.  Find  from  your  textbook  of  history  why  Faneuil  Hall  in 
Boston  is  called  the  Cradle  of  Liberty  and  why  the  cracked 
bell  in  Independence  Hall,  Philadelphia,  is  called  Liberty  Bell. 

18.  During  the  Civil  War  one  of  the  political  parties  was  named 
Liberty  Party.    Can  you  tell  why  ?    19.  The  tall  pole  on  which 
our  flag  is  raised  is  called  a  liberty  pole.    Can  you  tell  why  ? 

20.  Why  did  the  word  "liberty  "  become  popular  in  1917  ? 
21.  What  was  the  Liberty  Loan  ?  22.  What  is  a  Liberty  Bond? 

23.  Tell  how  the  negroes  were  deprived  of  their  liberty  for 
many  years.  24.  How  were  they  freed  ? 

25.  For  what  have  all  the  great  wars  of  the  United  States 
been  fought?  Explain  your  answer.  26.  In  1812  the  United 
States  fought  for  the  freedom  of  the  seas.  What  is  meant  by 
"  the  freedom  of  the  seas  "  ? 

27.  Tell  how  and  why  the  Cherokees  were  driven  from  the 
Southern  mountains. 

28.  Are  there  any  slaves  in  the  United    States  to-day  ? 
29.  How  have  the  negroes  and  the  Indians  shown  their  appre- 
ciation of  the  liberty  which  they  now  have  ? 

30.  Can  you  think  of  any  persons  in  the  United  States  who 
are  treated  unjustly  or  who  do  not  have  the  same  liberty  that 
you  have  ? 

31.  In  your  textbook  of  history  you  will  find  a  copy  of  the 
United  States  Constitution ;   what  does  this  say  about  liberty 
and  freedom  ? 


CHAPTER  IV 

AMERICA  — ITS  LANGUAGE 
The  American  Language 

1.  Is  there  an  American  language  ?    The  original  Ameri- 
cans were  Indians.   But  each  tribe  had  a  language  of  its  own, 
and  when  Columbus  discovered  the  New  World  there  were 
probably  at  least  twelve  hundred  different  languages  spoken 
in  North  and  South  America.    There  has,  then,  never  been 
a  real  American  language.    We  inherited  our  language  from 
England  and  have  never  exchanged  it  for  any  other.    As  you 
know,  after  the  discovery  of  America  all  the  large  Euro- 
pean nations  sent  colonies  to  explore  and  settle  the  new 
country.    Spain,  France,  and  England  were  the  largest  colo- 
nizers; but  after  England  defeated  Spain  on  the  seas  and 
overcame  the  French  and  Indians  in  a  long-drawn-out  war- 
fare in  America,  she  was  the  mistress  of  what  was  destined 
to  be  the  'United  States  of  America.    We  were,  therefore, 
English  until  the  Ee volution,  and  have  kept  the  language 
and  most  of  the  customs  of  England.    So  that  to-day  the 
official  language  of  America,  the  language  that  is  taught  in 
all  our  schools,  the  language  of  all  our  laws,  is  English. 

Judging  a  Nation  by  its  Language 

2.  One  of  the  things  which  have  helped  to  make  America 
a  great  nation  is  the  English  language.    In  a  part  of  South 
America  there  are  to-day  people  whose  language  has  only 

43 


44  MY  COUNTRY 

several  hundred  words,  and  no  word  for  any  numeral  above 
two.  There  are  other  people,  living  in  North  America,  who 
have  no  written  language  except  that  of  pictures.  The  first 
people  are  the  Brazilian  Indians,  the  second  are  our  Alaska 
Eskimos.  But  even  if  you  did  not  know  who  these  people 
were,  you  would  feel  sure  that  you  would  not  care  to  live 
among  them.  Only  a  backward  race  could  get  along  with 
languages  like  these. 

3.  If  our  language  had  no  words  for  numbers  above  two, 
there  could  be  no  arithmetic,  algebra,  or  geometry.    And 
without  these  there  could  be  no  large  department  stores,  no 
huge  factories,  no  railroads,  no  big  bridges.    It  takes  long 
examples  in  arithmetic  to  conduct  a  great  nation  like  ours. 
It  also  takes  thousands  of  words.    The  big  daily  newspapers 
represent  in  a  general  way  all  the  important  activities  of 
the  country.    Some  days  it  takes  five  thousand  different 
words,  some  days  more,  to  tell  in  the  briefest  possible  space 
what  the  American  people  want  tu  know  of  the  world's  news. 

A  Sign  Language 

4.  If  America  were  as  small  as  New  England,  and  all 
the  people  were  either  farmers  or  fishermen,  we  should  not 
need  so  many  words  as  we  do  now,  with  our  forty-eight 
states  and  our  hundreds  of  occupations.    It  is  fortunate  for 
us  that  we  have  a  live  language  that  is  full  and  rich,  and 
not  one  that  has  only  pictures  instead  of  an  alphabet.    On 
the    next    page    are    two    letters   written   by   an    Eskimo. 
Suppose  that  we  had  to  print  our  newspapers  and  text- 
books in  this  picture  language !  Would  that  not  be  awkward 
and  unsatisfactory? 


AMEEICA  — ITS  LANGUAGE 


45 


Eskimo  Sign  Letter  No.  1 


Letter  No.  1  means  that  one  man  (6)  wants  four  steel  fox 
traps  (1),  one  drinking  cup  (2),  one  paper  of  needles  (3),  one 
knife  (4),  and  a  package  of  leaf  tobacco  (5). 

Letter  No.  2  means  that  a  man  (13)  and  his  wife  (14)  want 
one  pocket  knife  (1), 
two  cans  of  powder 
(2),  one  pipe  with 
cover  on  the  bowl  (3), 
one  plug  of  chewing 
tobacco  (4),  one  set 
of  reloading  tools  for 
rifle  (5),  one  rifle  (6), 
one  box  of  primers  (7), 
two  cans  of  coal  oil 
(8),  one  can  of  mo- 
lasses (9),  one  comb 
(10),  one  coal-oil  stove 
(11),  and  one  coal-oil 
lamp  (12). 

The  English  Language 
Rich  in  Words 

5.  The  English  lan- 
guage has  over  300,- 
000  different  words. 
The  French  language 
has  about  33,000, 
the  Spanish  50,000, 

the  Italian  150,000.  There  are  some  languages  that  have 
only  a  few  hundred.  No  one  person  would  ever  need  to 
use  even  half  of  the  300,000  words  found  in  our  largest 
English  dictionary  (the  Oxford),  but  it  is  a  treasure  house 
for  men  and  women  of  ideas  and  enterprise,  No  person 


Eskimo  Sign  Letter  No.  2 


46  MY  COUNTKY 

need  ever  lack  for  English  words  to  express  what  he  wants 
to  say.  If  he  cannot  talk  and  write  as  freely  as  he  wishes, 
it  is  not  the  fault  of  the  English  language. 

English  the  Language  of  Liberty 

6.  No  one  knows  just  how  much  our  language  has  helped 
to  make  us  love  liberty.    But  this  is  true  —  the  two  largest 
and  most  powerful   liberty -loving  countries  of   the  world 
speak  the  English  language.    And  this  also  is  true  —  most 
of  the  great  liberty  documents  of  the  world  have  been  writ- 
ten in  English.    The  first  of  these  was  Magna  Charta,  the 
second  was  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  the  third  was 
the  United  States  Constitution,  the  fourth  was  the  Emanci- 
pation Proclamation,  the  fifth  was  President  Wilson's  address 
of  April  2,  1917,  to  Congress,  urging  it  to  declare  war  on 
Germany. 

One  of  the  Weaknesses  of  our  Nation 

7.  If  our  language  has  helped  to  make  our  nation  strong, 
what  about  the  thousands  of  people  in  the  United  States 
who  can  neither  speak,  read,  nor  understand  English  ?   Will 
they    weaken    the   nation  ?    This   is    a   question   that   has 
troubled  a  great  many  Americans. 

In  Foreign  New  York 

8.  One  day  a  terrible  fire  broke  out  in  the  factory  dis- 
trict of  New  York  City.    Doctors  and  ambulances  had  been 
rushed  to  the  scene  from  all  points.    While  returning  to 
his  home  one  doctor  missed  his  way.    He  stopped  his  car 
in  front  of  a  corner  drug  store  and  asked  a  group  of  men 


AMERICA— ITS  LANGUAGE 


47 


which  street  would  take  him  most  quickly  to  Fourth  Ave- 
nue. The  men  looked  interested,  but  shook  their  heads. 
Impatiently  he  went  into  the  store.  Here  also  the  clerks 
looked  interested,  but  shook  their  heads.  The  doctor  won- 
dered if  he  could  be  dreaming.  He  was  in  the  very  heart 


copr.  Publishers'  Photo  Service 


In  Foreign  New  York 

of  New  York  City,  yet  no  one  could  understand  him.  He 
felt  like  a  stranger  in  a  foreign  city.  Not  until  he  found  a 
policeman  did  he  get  his  question  answered. 

9.  "  What 's  the  matter  down  here  ? "  he  asked  of  the 
officer.  "  They  all  act  as  if  they  did  n't  understand  plain, 
everyday  English." 

"  They  don't,"  replied  the  policeman.  "  For  two  miles 
this  way  and  three  miles  that  way  you  won't  hear  any- 
thing but  Polish  and  Yiddish.  If  you  want  to  spend  your 
vacation  traveling  in  foreign  countries,  just  travel  round 
New  York.  There  is  a  little  Germany,  a  little  Italy,  a  big 


48  MY  COUNTRY 

Russia,  a  big  Jerusalem,  a  little  Turkey  —  oh,  and  all  the 
other  countries.  It  ;s  about  the  same  in  Chicago.  I  used  to 
live  there,  and  I  know." 

"  Well,  why  don't  these  people  learn  English  ? "  asked 
the  doctor. 

10.  "  That 's  what  I  used  to  wonder.    But  after  all,  why 
should  they  ?   All  their  neighbors  talk  their  language.    They 
can  buy  newpapers  and  magazines  in  their  own  language. 
They  have  churches  and  theaters  of  their  own.    Why  should 
they  learn  English  when  they  can  get  everything  they  need 
or  want  without  it  ? " 

The  Schoolhouse  and  Foreign-Born  Children 

11.  The  physician  drove  off,  wondering  if  the  policeman 
was  right.    Every  block  or  two  he  would  stop  his  car  and 
ask  some  man  or  woman  a  question  in  English.    Occasion- 
ally he  could  see  that  he  was  understood,  but  the  foreigner 
could  not  reply.    Once  he  stopped  a  group  of  boys,  and  before 
his  question  was  half  asked  a  chorus  of  voices  gave  him  the 
information  in  English.    This  was  strange.    Again,  a  mile 
farther  on,  a  woman  with  a  seven-year-old  child  shook  her 
head  at  him.    She  did  not  understand  him,  but  the  child 
answered  him  clearly  and  accurately. 

12.  He  continued  his  experiment  long  enough  to  discover 
that  most  of  the  children  could  both  speak  and  understand 
English,  while  the  older  people  were  indeed  foreigners  in 
appearance  and  in  speech.    Just  as  he  was  puzzling  over  the 
matter  he  passed  a  huge  schoolhouse.    "  Ah,  I  see,"  he  said. 
"  That  explains  it.    The  children  have  to  go  to  school ;  the 
parents  don't." 


AMERICA  — ITS  LANGUAGE 


49 


There  is  Danger  in  Many  Languages 

13.  Our   histories  show  us   that  there   is   "  strength   in 
union."   There  is  always  danger  in  divisions.    If  there  were 
even  so  simple  a  barrier  as  a  stone  wall  built  around  each 
of  our  states,  separating  one  from  the  other,  we  should  not 
be  a  strong,  united  nation. 

But  language  can  be  a 
far  greater  barrier  than  a 
stone  wall.  If  one  third 
of  a  city  speaks  and 
understands  only  French, 
this  one  third  will  never 
fully  understand  what 
the  other  two  thirds  of 
the  city  say  and  do.  If 
the  Indians  of  North 
and  South  America  had 
spoken  one  language 
instead  of  many,  they 
could  easily  have  held 
back  the  white  settlers 
for  a  long  time. 

14.  Many    languages 
weaken    a    nation.    Be- 
cause our  statesmen  realized  this,  one  of  the  first  things 
we  did  when  we  took  possession  of  the  Philippine  Islands, 
where  over  forty  different  languages  were  spoken,  was  to 
open  schools  in  which  every  child  was  taught  English.    In 
Porto  Rico,  in  Alaska,  in  Hawaii,  everywhere  that  we  set  up 
our  government,  there  we  teach  English. 


Trying  to  teach  his  Father  English 


50  MY  COUNTRY 

Nearly  Three  Million  Americans  cannot  use  English 

15.  But  in  our  own  48  states  between  the  Atlantic  and 
the  Pacific  there  are  to-day  almost  3,000,000  persons  who 
cannot  speak  or  understand  English.  This  means  that 
whenever  the  president  issues  an  important  statement 


Teaching  Porto  Bican  Children  English 

nearly  3,000,000  persons  do  not  know  what  this  is  unless 
it  is  translated  into  their  own  language.  Government  offi- 
cials assert  that  every  language  of  every  civilized  people  is 
now  spoken  somewhere  in  America.  Before  war  broke  out 
in  1914,  in  a  single  year  over  1,500,000  foreigners  entered 
this  country,  and  fully  1,000,000  of  them  could  not  speak 
the  English  language. 

16.  There  are  over  fifteen  hundred  newspapers  published 
in  foreign  languages  in  the  United  States.   All  large  libraries 


AMERICA  — ITS  LANGUAGE  51 

have  many  books  in  Polish,  Italian,  and  other  foreign 
languages.  By  means  of  these  newspapers  and  books  the 
foreign-born  citizens  can  learn  much  about  America.  But 
our  government  at  Washington  and  the  state  governments 
are  constantly  issuing  important  bulletins  about  foods, 
taxes,  health,  laws,  etc.  which  are  never  translated.  Many 
important  items  of  news  and  hundreds  of  helpful  and  inter- 
esting books  also  are  never  translated.  This  means  a  barrier 
between  those  who  understand  and  use  English  and  those 
who  do  not. 

17.  In   some   of   the   great   mill   cities,  to   which   large 
numbers  of  foreigners  go  in  search  of  work  when  they  first 
come  to  America,  there  have  been  many  strikes.    Property 
has  been  destroyed  and  even  lives  lost  in  the  bitter  strug- 
gle between  the  mill  workers  and  the  mill  owners.    When 
a  committee  investigated  the  cause  of  one  such  strike,  they 
found    that   dishonest    men    had   stirred   up   the  workers, 
most  of  whom  could  read  no  English  at  all,  by  false  state- 
ments about  their  employers.     The  men  had  no  way  of 
learning  the  truth.    The  result  was  lost  wages,  lost  posi- 
tions, and  bitterness. 

Teaching  English 

18.  The  children  of  foreign-born  persons  are  compelled, 
like  all  other  children,  to  go  to  school  during  the  school 
year.     They   will   carry   the   English   language   into   their 
homes.    But  children   can   be   only  imperfect  teachers  to 
their  parents.   So  the  parents  must  be  taught.    Enterprising 
towns  and  cities  have  special  free  evening  schools  for  these 
adults.    In  many  cities  factories  also  have  schools  for  their 
own  foreign  workers. 


52  MY  COUNTRY 

How  Everyone  can  Help 

19.  In  making  English   the  language  of  all  Americans 
every  patriotic  person  can  help.    Some  churches  have  organ- 
ized classes  in  which  they  teach  the  Chinese  to  read  and 
speak  English.    One  enterprising  woman  discovered  that  her 
Greek  vegetable  man  understood  only  enough  English  words 
to   sell  his  vegetables,  and   could   not   read   a  word.     By 
always  having  a  pleasant  smile,  and  in  cold  weather  a  cup 
of  coffee,  in  hot  weather  a  glass  of  cold  water  for  him,  she 
gained  his  confidence  and  began  to  help  him  learn  English. 
She  went  to  a  school-teacher  near  her  for  assistance,  and 
together  they  mapped  out  a  series  of  simple  lessons.    Each 
week  she  gave  the  man  a  card  with  a  sentence  in  writing  and 
in  print.    After  a  little  the  Greek  began  to  go  to  evening 
school,  but  kept  up  his  five-minute  lessons  with  his  cus- 
tomer.    This   woman   was  helping  turn  a   Greek  into  an 
American. 

America  for  Americans 

20.  America  is   only  for  Americans.     But   Greek,  Slav, 
Jew,  all  can  become  Americans  if  they  will.    One  of  the 
first  things  they  must  do  is  to  learn  our  language.   Every 
person  who  is  fortunate  enough   to  have  English  for  his 
native  language  must  help  those  who  do  not  speak  and 
read  it. 

21.  All  the  riches  and  wonderful  natural  resources  of 
our  continent  cannot  make  us  a  strong  nation  if  there  are 
small  separate  nations  in   different  parts   of  the  country. 
So,  little  by  little,  with  the  help  of  our  day  and  evening 
schools,  strange  languages  must  disappear  from  our  towns 


AMERICA  — ITS  LANGUAGE  53 

and  cities.  This  does  not  mean  that  an  Italian,  Kussian,  or 
any  other  foreigner  should  forget  his  native  language.  To  be 
able  to  speak  and  read  several  languages  is  an  education 
in  itself.  In  our  high  schools  and  colleges  we  teach  foreign 
languages.  We  urge  all  our  American  young  people  to 
master  at  least  one  language  besides  their  own.  But  the 
time  must  come  when  there  will  be  no  person  in  any  part 
of  the  United  States  who  cannot  read,  speak,  and  understand 
English. 

QUESTIONS  AND  PROBLEMS 

1.  What  is  the  American  language  to-day  ?    The  United 
States  is  the  largest  English-speaking  nation  in  the  world.    Do 
you   think  it  would   be   correct,  therefore,   to  speak  of  our 
language  as  the  "  American  language  "  ? 

2.  Was  there  ever  an  American  language  that  differed  from 
all  other  languages  ? 

3.  How  can  a  language  be  inherited  ?    4.  If  Spain  had  con- 
tinued to  send  colonies  to  America  and  had  finally  driven  out 
the  French  and  the  English,  what  would  be  the  language  of 
the  United  States  to-day  ? 

5.  Explain  how  a  nation's  language  can  help  to  make  it 
strong.  6.  Give  one  reason  why  the  American  Indians  were 
never  one  powerful  nation.  7.  Certain  students  of  language 
claim  that  the  Russian  language  is  far  richer  than  any  other. 
If  this  is  true,  do  you  think  Russia  will  grow  stronger 
or  weaker  ?  Why  ? 

8.  Tell  about  some  languages  which  have  only  a  few  words 
in  them.  9.  Take  one  page  of  each  of  your  textbooks  (history, 
arithmetic  or  algebra,  geography,  etc.)  and  make  an  alpha- 
betical list  of  all  the  different  words  found  on  each  page. 
What  is  the  total  number  ? 


54  MY  COUNTRY 

10.  How  often  do  you  add  a  new  word  to  your  speaking 
vocabulary?    When  you  meet  a  new  word  in  print  or  hear 
one  spoken,  what  do  you  do  ? 

11.  There  is  only  one  way  to  master  your  language.    What 
is  it  ?    Tell  whether  or  not  you  think  you  are  mastering  it. 

12.  Give  one  reason  why  the  Brazilian  Indians  could  not 
build  up  a  nation  like  ours. 

13.  What  is  a  picture  language  ?    14.  If  you  had  no  writ- 
ten language  except  that  of  our  American  Eskimos,  how  could 
you  write  these  sentences  in  a  letter :  "  My  brother  enlisted 
in  the  Signal  Corps  yesterday  and  expects  to  begin  training 
at  once.    Please  let  me  know  how  all  your  family  are  and 
when  you  expect  to  come  East "  ? 

15.  Find  in  an  unabridged  dictionary  ten  words  that  you 
have  never  heard  used  and  have  never  seen  in  print.    Study 
their  meaning,  and  tell  what  persons  might  find  each  of  them 
useful. 

16.  What  is  the  occupation  of  your  father  or  your  uncle 
or  brother  ?    Every  occupation  has  some  words  that  belong 
especially  to  it.    A  lawyer  must  use  many  terms  that  a  doctor 
never  does,  and  the  doctor  many  that  other  persons  never  need. 
Give  examples  of  the  special  words  of  your  father's  occupation. 

17.  One  reason  why  the  English  language  is   so  rich  is 
because  the  English  and  the  American  people  keep  adding  new 
words  to  it.   Englishmen  and  Americans  travel  more  than  the 
people   of   other   nations.    Can   you   explain   the   connection 
between  these  two  statements  ? 

18.  Can  you  think  of  new  words  that  have  recently  been 
added  to  our  language  ?    Perhaps  automobile  and  aeroplane 
will  suggest  others. 

19.  What  is  the  language  of  the  two  countries  that  are  at 
the  forefront  of  free  nations  ? 


AMEB1CA  — ITS  LANGUAGE  55 

20.  Find  from  a  textbook  in  English  history  or  from  an 
encyclopedia  what  Magna  Charta  is.  21.  Name  four  other 
liberty  documents  which  were  written  in  English. 

22.  Explain  why  more  than  one  language  is  spoken  in 
America.  23.  What  language  is  spoken  in  your  home  ? 
24.  Do  you  have  friends  or  acquaintances  who  speak  any 
language  other  than  English  ? 

25.  In  speaking  to  foreigners  why  must  a  person  show  the 
greatest  courtesy  and  take  the  greatest  pains  to  be  understood  ? 

26.  Why  is  the  large  number  of  languages  spoken  in  the 
United  States  a  sign  of  weakness  ? 

27.  In  a  factory  which  employs  four  thousand  men,  do  you 
think  more  work  and  better  work  is  turned  out  if  only  one 
language  is  spoken  ?    Explain  your  answer.  28.  Why  do  some 
factories  refuse  to  hire  workers  who  cannot  speak  English  ? 

29.  About  how  many  people  in  the  United  States  can 
neither  speak  nor  read  English  ?  30.  Give  two  reasons  why 
a  foreigner  does  not  begin  to  learn  English  as  soon  as  he 
reaches  this  country.  31.  Why  is  it  that  foreign-born  boys 
and  girls  can  often  speak  English  when  their  parents  cannot  ? 

32.  Is  any  member  of  your  family  doing  anything  to  help 
a  foreigner  master  English  ?  33.  If  every  patriotic  person 
should  help  at  least  one  foreign-born  person"  to  learn  English, 
what  would  soon  happen  ? 

34.  Write  a  two  hundred-word  composition  on  "  The  United 
States  should  have  a  law  compelling  all  persons  to  learn 
English." 


CHAPTER  V 
MAKING  AN  AMERICAN 

1.  Theodore  Roosevelt  once  explained  what  he  thought 
was   the  right  kind  of  American  boy  —  and  of  course  he 
meant  girl  also: 

What  we  have  a  right  to  expect  from  the  American  boy  is 
that  he  shall  turn  out  to  be  a  good  American  man.  Now,  the 
chances  are  strong  that  he  won't  be  much  of  a  man  unless  he 
is  a  good  deal  of  a  boy.  He  must  not  be  a  coward  or  a  weak- 
ling, a  bully,  a  shirk,  or  a  prig.  He  must  work  hard  and  play 
hard.  He  must  be  clean-minded  and  clean-lived  and  able  to 
hold  his  own  under  all  circumstances  and  against  all  comers. 
It  is  only  on  these  conditions  that  he  will  grow  to  be  the  kind 
of  man  of  whom  America  can  really  be  proud.  In  life,  as  in  a 
football  game,  the  principle  to  follow  is :  Hit  the  line  hard ; 
don't  foul  and  don't  shirk,  but  hit  the  line  hard. 

What  is  the  Right  Kind  of  American  ? 

2.  It   is   evident   that  just  living  in  America  does  not 
make  a  person  the  "right  kind  of  American."    Even  if  a 
boy  and  his  parents  and   grandparents  have  always  lived 
in  America,  this  alone  does  not  mean  that  they  are  true 
Americans.     Americans  have  to  be  made.    This  is  a  long, 
expensive  task.   Each  year  there  are  over  two  million  children 
born  in  the  United  States.    Some  of  these  children  will  be 
genuine  Americans  by  the  time  they  leave  school,  perhaps 

66 


MAKING  AN  AMERICAN  57 

earlier.  Others  will  learn  more  slowly.  Some  will  grow  old 
and  gray  before  they  have  been  trained  to  be  Americans. 
Some  will  never  learn.  This  sounds  discouraging.  But  the 
chief  reason  why  some  people  are  so  long  in  learning  is 
that  they  do  not  know  just  what  it  means  to  be  an 
American.  A  boy  cannot  learn  to  be  a  carpenter  unless 
he  knows  what  a  carpenter  is.  A  high-school  pupil  cannot 
prepare  for  college  unless  he  knows  what  college  is. 

3.  Here  is  a  description  of  an  American  that  all  boys 
and  girls  must  make  themselves  fit  into: 

I.  An  American  must  love  liberty. 
II.  He  must  know  how  to  use  his  hands  and  his  brain. 

III.  He  must  master  the  English  language. 

IV.  He  must  honor  the  United  States  above  all  countries. 
V.  He  must  serve  his  country  every  day. 

4.  No  matter  whether  you  were  born  in  America  or  in 
Europe  —  if  these  five  sentences  describe  you,  you  are  really 
an  American.    All  the  preceding  and  following  chapters  of 
this  book  help  to  show  how  important  are  these  requirements. 
Here  we  shall  say  just  a  word  about  each. 

I.   AN  AMERICAN  MUST  LOVE  LIBERTY 

5.  To  love  liberty  means  to  value  it  properly.    You  have 
learned  that  the  whole  foundation  of  the  American  nation  is 
liberty.    Therefore,  if  a  citizen  learns  only  one  lesson  well, 
it  should  be  how  to  use  the  liberty  that  is  given  him. 

6.  Liberty  is  far  more  precious  than  dollars.    It  is  never 
given  to  little  children,  and  to  older  ones  only  bit  by  bit  as 
they  learn  what  it  is.    Boys  and  girls  never  have  full  liberty 
in  America  until  they  are  twenty-one ;  even  then  many  of 


58  MY  COUNTRY 

them  cannot  safely  be  trusted  with  it.  The  boy  who  has 
to  be  watched  to  see  that  he  studies,  the  girl  who  cheats 
unless  the  teacher's  eye  is  on  her,  the  boy  who  steals  the 
old  lady's  apples  when  she  is  away  from  home,  have  not 
yet  learned  to  use  liberty.  If  you  want  to  test  yourself  to 
find  out  whether  you  can  be  trusted  with  liberty,  see  whether 
you  need  to  be  watched. 

Learning  how  to  use  Liberty 

7.  But   earning   the   right  to  have  liberty  for  yourself 
means  something  more  than  being  honest.    It  means  being 
competent  to  use  it  properly.     A  four-year-old  child  must 
not  have  liberty  to  eat  what  it  pleases,  for  it  might  eat 
pickles  and  drink  strong  coffee.   A  child  must  learn  a  great 
deal  before  it  knows  enough  to  be  trusted  with  freedom. 
Before  you  can  spend  all  your  time   as  you    please,  you 
must  learn  what  kind  of  work  and  what  kind  of  pleasures 
will  most   satisfy  you.     This  cannot  be  learned  in  a  few 
weeks. 

8.  A  boy  one  day  complained  that  some  of  his  classmates 
could  do  exactly  as  they  pleased  on  Saturdays,  while  he 
could   do   nothing   without   first    asking    permission.      His 
father  said :  "  Very  well,  we  will  try  an  experiment.    Next 
Saturday  from  seven   in   the  morning  till   seven  at  night 
is  yours." 

9.  To  get  the  full  benefit  of  his  new  liberty,  the  boy 
began  the  day  by  staying  in  bed  until  nine  o'clock.    Break- 
fast had  been  cleared  away  when  he  came  downstairs.    He 
wanted  to  be  at  the  baseball  field  at  half -past  nine,  so  he 
snatched  a  cooky  and  started  off  on  the  run.    At  ten  o'clock 


MAKING  AN  AMERICAN  59 

it  began  to  rain,  and  although  he  had  brought  neither  rubbers 
nor  raincoat,  he  stayed  until  the  game  was  finished.  By 
that  time  he  was  wet  and  hungry,  but  he  decided  not  to 
go  home  —  he  could  do  that  any  day.  Instead,  he  went 
to  see  a  friend  at  the  other  end  of  the  village.  To  his  dis- 
gust he  found  him  cleaning  the  cellar.  Watching  another 
boy  sift  ashes  and  sweep  the  floor  did  not  go  very  well 
with  his  holiday.  So  although  he  had  had  no  dinner,  he 
went  back  to  the  village  and  spent  the  afternoon  in  the 
moving-picture  theater.  It  was  six  o'clock  when  he  started 
for  home  —  wet,  tired,  and  hungry.  The  next  morning  he 
had  goose  grease  on  his  chest  and  a  flannel  around  his 
neck,  and  spent  the  day  trying  to  forget  that  his  throat 
was  sore,  his  stomach  empty,  and  that  his  Monday's  history 
lesson  was  unlearned. 

10.  His  day  of  liberty  was  a  failure  for  two  reasons:  he 
had  not  learned  how  to  plan  his  work  and  his  play.   Usually 
his  mother  waked  him  in  time  to  eat  a  good  breakfast;  if 
it  looked  like  rain  she  reminded  him  to  take  an  umbrella 
and  wear  rubbers.    Either  his  father  or  his   mother  had 
helped  him  plan  his  games  and  good  times  as  well  as  his 
"  chores  "  and  his  studying.    He  had  not  realized  that  they 
were  merely  showing  him  how  to  get  the  most  work  and 
the  most  fun  out  of  each  day. 

11.  A  thirteen-year-old  girl  was  told  by  her  parents  that 
when  she  finished  the  eighth  grade  she  could  do  whatever 
she  pleased  —  keep  on  into  the  high  school,  find  a  position, 
or  stay  at  home.    She  decided  to  stay  at  home.    But  she 
soon  learned  that  she  had  made  a  lonely  choice.    Most  of 
her  classmates  went  to  high  school;  some  of  them  found 
positions.    Evenings  and  Sundays  were  the  only  times  she 


60 


MY  COUNTRY 


saw  her  friends,  and  then  they  were  full  of  plans  that  she 
had  no  part  in.  After  six  months  she  decided  to  go  to  work. 
She  went  to  an  employment  bureau  and  told  the  manager  she 
wanted  a  position  in  an  office.  The  manager  explained  that 

in  the  best  offices 
none  but  high-school 
graduates  were  em- 
ployed. This  was  a 
hard  blow.  Appar- 
ently she  was  the 
most  fortunate  of 
girls,  with  full  per- 
mission to  do  as 
she  pleased,  and 
yet  it  was  all  a 
failure. 

12.  The  trouble 
with  the  boy  and 
his  day  of  liberty, 
and  the  girl  and 
her  six  months  of 
freedom,  was  that 
both  thought  that 
r.  Life  Publishing  Co.  jugt  fa  have  liberty 

This  Boy  became  a  Failure  because  he  never   ,   ^   i  j          i  n    ^ 

J,  would  make  them 

learned  the  Value  of  Liberty  (see  p.  61) 

happy.     Liberty  is 

like  money  —  it  requires  a  skillful  spender  to  get  happiness 
from  it.  In  this  country  each  grown  person  can  choose 
his  own  pleasures  and  his  occupation,  but  unless  he  has 
learned  how  to  choose  wisely,  he  will  not  be  ha^py  or 
prosperous. 


MAKING  AN  AMERICAN 


01 


How  Three  Young  Men  used  their  Day  of  Liberty 

13.  A  big  exporting  firm  in  a  thriving  city  had  in  its 
office  three  bright  young  men,  all  ambitious  and  eager  to 
get  ahead.     There  was 

an  opportunity  to  ad- 
vance one  of  them,  but 
which  should  it  be? 
One  morning,  after  a 
busy  day,  the  manager 
announced  that  the 
office  would  be  closed 
all  the  afternoon  — 
everybody  could  have  a 
half  holiday.  When  he 
greeted  his  assistants 
the  next  morning,  he 
asked  each  how  he  had 
spent  the  previous  after- 
noon. One  young  man 
had  been  to  the  theater, 
the  second  had  not 
done  "  much  of  any- 
thing," the  third,  with  a 
glowing  face,  explained 
that  he  had  gone  down  to  the  wharf  to  watch  the  loading  of 
the  big  cargo  of  supplies  which  the  firm  was  sending  to  Europe. 

14.  Until  he  saw  for  himself,  he  had  not  realized  how 
much  skill  it  took  to  pack  away  hundreds  of  tons  of  boxes 
and  bales  so  that  no  space  would  be  wasted  and  no  goods 
would  be  damaged.    He  had  talked  with  the  engineer,  who 


Copr.  Life  Publishing  Co. 

He  never  learned  how  to  use  his  Liberty 


62  MY  COUNTRY 

explained  that  because  of  an  improvement  in  their  machinery 
they  expected  to  be  able  to  increase  the  rate  of  speed  half 
a  mile  an  hour  and  thus  save  several  thousands  of  dollars 
on  each  trip.  He  had  also  talked  with  a  weather-beaten 
Portuguese  sailor  who  had  "  sailed  on  every  sea,"  and  from 
him  had  learned  some  of  the  difficulties  of  stowing  a  bulky 
cargo.  It  was  that  young  man  who  was  advanced.  In  his 
half  day  of  liberty  he  had  learned  some  valuable  lessons. 

How  Busy  Men  use  their  Liberty 

15.  Thoughtful  men  have  claimed  that  in  order  to  judge 
a  person  you  must  know  how  he  spends  his  leisure  —  that 
is,  his  hours  and  days  of  liberty.    The  superintendent  of  a 
large  shoe  factory  once  declared  that  he  dreaded  holidays 
because  the  workmen  made  more  bad  mistakes  the  following 
day  than  at  any  other  time.    "  I  think  it  must  be  because 
they  don't  know  how  to  make  the  best  use  of  their  spare 
time.    They  come  back  tired  and  irritable  instead  of  rested 
and  cheery."    Thousands  of  people  have  never  learned  how 
to  enjoy  a  holiday,  or  even  a  leisure  hour.    They  did  not 
begin  to  learn  when  they  were  young. 

16.  Many  a  business  man  can  and  does  spend  every  day 
in  the  week  doing  exactly  as  he  pleases.  But  what  he  pleases 
is  to  plan  out  carefully  both  his  work  and  his  pleasures. 
The  persons  who  value  liberty  most  are  those  who  make 
the  best  use  of  it.    These  are  your  learning  days.   Remember 
that  often  the  most  important  difference  between  a  person 
who  stays  poor  and  one  who  becomes  prosperous    is  that 
the  one  knew  how  to  use  his  liberty  (which  is  often  called 
opportunity),  and  the  other  did  not.    Liberty  does  not  mean 
letting  chance  use  you  —  it  means  doing  away  with  chance. 


MAKING  AN  AMEKICAN  63 

II.  AN  AMERICAN  MUST  LEARN  TO  USE  HIS  HANDS 
AND  HIS  BRAIN 

Mastering  Simple  Home  Work 

17.  The  only  persons  who  can  be  genuine  Americans  and 
not  have  some  useful  occupation  are  those  who  are  too  ill 
or  too  badly  crippled  to  be  able  to  work.    A  child  begins  to 
learn  to  work  long  before  he  has  finished  school.    The  boy 
who  has  "  mastered "  a  kitchen  stove  or  a  furnace  is  well 
on  the  way  toward  being  an  American.    But  to  master  a 
furnace  is  not  a  small  matter.    This  does  not  mean  putting 
in  coal  when  somebody  suggests  it,  nor  occasionally  sifting 
ashes.    It  means  taking  full  charge  of  the  furnace  —  know- 
ing every  damper  and  every  "  queer  thing  "  about  it,  keep- 
ing it  free  from  clinkers  and  ashes,  keeping  the  cellar  around 
the  furnace  clean,  understanding  how  an  east  wind  or  a 
north  wind  will  affect  the  draft,  keeping  the  rooms   just 
warm  enough,  devising  ways  for  getting  more  heat  from  less 
coal.    If  a  boy  never  learned  how  to  do  any  other  work 
than  caring  for  a  furnace,  he  would  be  a  useful  person.    But 
it  always  happens  that  when  a  person  has  mastered  one 
thing  he  wants  to  learn  to  do  something  still  harder. 

18.  Perhaps  a  girl  begins  to  learn  how  to  do  useful  work 
by  washing  dishes.    But  just  "washing  dishes"  does   not 
mean  mastering  this  kind  of  work.    To  become  an  expert 
dishwasher  is  not  easy.    The  girl  who  leaves  the  sink  for 
her  mother  to  wash,  tucks  a  wet,  lumpy  dishcloth  out  of 
sight,  or  leaves  the  glasses  linty  is  a  long  way  from  perfection. 
Mastering  dishwashing  means  handling  dishes  without  crack- 
ing or  nicking  them,  knowing  how  hot  water  can  be  safely 
used  on   glassware   and   good   china,  how  to   clean    silver 


64  MY  COUNTRY 

and  steel  knives  and  forks,  how  to  wash  pots  and  pans  that 
"stick,"  how  to  leave  the  sink  so  that  it  will  be  free  from 
odors,  what  kind  of  dishcloth,  towels,  and  soap  will  do  the 
most  effective  and  quickest  work,  how  to  arrange  cupboards 
so  that  dishes  can  be  put  away  easily  and  quickly. 


Mastering  Dishwashing 

What  shall  you  do  when  School  Days  are  over  ? 

19.  All  the  time  that  a  pupil  is  at  school  he  should  be 
looking  ahead  and  planning  what  he  is  to  do  when  his 
school  days  are  over.  The  mastering  of  home  work,  garden- 
ing, and  the  like  is  merely  practice  work  for  the  big  things 
later  on.  All  of  it  is  helping  to  make  the  American.  In  a 
few  years  each  boy  must  be  prepared  to  do  a  man's  work, 


MAKING  AN  AMERICAN 


65 


each  girl  to  do  a  woman's  work,  in  the  world.  Every  pupil 
should  study  himself  to  see  in  what  occupation  he  can  be 
happiest  and  most  useful.  Begin  planning  to-day  whether 
you  will  learn  a  trade,  or  study  a  profession,  or  go  into 
business.  Make  a  list  of  the  different  occupations  that 
attract  you.  Find  out  from  books,  magazines,  and  people 
all  that  you  can  about 
each  one.  The  more 
you  learn  about  the 
busy  world  of  workers, 
the  easier  it  will  be 
for  you  to  make  a 
wise  choice. 

20.  The  true  Amer- 
ican will  never  be  an 
idler,  however  rich 
he  becomes.  If  you 
should  make  a  list  of 
the  persons  in  your 

town  who  do  no  use- 

„   ,  11-^1  Mastering  a  Furnace 

ful  work,  would  it  be 

a  long  list  or  a  short  one  ?  So  necessary  is  work  for  the 
success  of  the  nation  that  several  states  have  passed  laws 
requiring  all  able-bodied  men  to  have  an  occupation. 


Mastering  Some  Form  of  "  Play  " 

21.  Hands  and  brain  need  to  be  trained  to  "play"  as 
well  as  to  work.  Whether  it  is  learning  to  ride  horseback 
or  to  swim  or  to  play  checkers  or  tennis,  be  sure  that 
you  have  really  mastered  some  form  of  wholesome  play. 


66  MY  COUNTRY 

A  sixteen-year-old  boy  who  applied  for  an  office  position  was 
asked  this  question,  "What  one  thing  can  you  do  as  well 
as,  or  better  than,  any  of  your  friends  ? "  The  boy  thought 
for  a  long  time,  then  shook  his  head  doubtfully.  "  I  guess 
this  isn't  what  you  mean,  but  I'm  the  best  skater  in  my 
crowd."  The  business  man,  by  asking  a  few  questions, 
learned  that  the  boy  knew  how  to  take  the  best  care  of  his 
skates,  how  to  play  ice  hockey,  and  how  to  do  many  kinds 
of  difficult  figure  skating.  Finally  he  said :  "  If  you  have 
mastered  one  thing,  you  ought  to  be  able  to  master  another. 
We  will  see  what  you  can  do  with  this  position."  No  per- 
son who  has  learned  the  art  of  mastering  need  make  a 
failure  of  his  life. 


III.  AN  AMERICAN  MUST  MASTER  THE  ENGLISH  LANGUAGE 

22.  In  order  to  learn  how  to  use  liberty  and  how  to  earn 
your  living,  you  will  need  to  master  the  English  language. 
To  master  it  means  to  be  able  to  speak,  write,  and  under- 
stand it  correctly.    The  boy  who  knows  his  lesson  but  cannot 
tell  it,  the  girl  who  can  tell  what  she  saw  but  cannot  write 
it,  the  person  who  cannot  understand  what  he  reads — all  are 
a  long  way  from  being  useful  American  citizens.    There  are 
many  doors  between  you  and  success.    The  key  to  the  first 
one  is  the  English  language.     Whether  you  are  to  serve 
your  country  as  a  doctor,  a  lawyer,  a  bookkeeper,  a  farmer, 
this  door  must  be  opened  first. 

23.  The  fourteen-year-old  son  of  a  banker  was  one  day  sent 
to  give  him  an  important  message.    When  the  boy  reached 
the  bank,  the  secretary  told  him  that  his  father  was  at  a 
directors'  meeting  and   could  not  be   disturbed.     He  was 


MAKING  AN  AMERICAN  67 

allowed  to  sit  in  the  little  anteroom  to  wait.  The  door  was 
ajar.  He  could  hear  all  that  was  said,  but  to  his  great 
astonishment  he  could  not  understand  a  single  sentence. 
Some  of  the  words  he  knew,  but  they  were  so  mixed  up 
with  strange  words  that  it  was  almost  like  a  foreign  language. 
Later,  when  he  had  delivered  his  message  and  he  and  his 


Every  Boy  and  Girl  should  master  Some  Kind  of  Wholesome  Play 

father  were  on  the  way  home,  he  asked, "  Why  did  n't  you  talk 
so  that  I  could  understand  ? "  The  reply  that  he  got  puzzled 
him.  "You'll  have  to  grow  up  to  that  kind  of  conversation. 
If  we  had  talked  like  fourteen-year-old  boys,  we  should 
have  accomplished  very  little  business,  I'm  afraid."  Many 
a  time  when  a  person  has  thought  a  lecture  or  a  book 
"  dry,"  the  trouble  has  been  simply  that  he  has  not  mastered 
his  own  language. 


68  MY  COUNTRY 

IV.  AN  AMERICAN  MUST  HONOR  HIS  COUNTRY  ABOVE 
ALL  OTHERS 

24.  To  honor  a  person  means  to  show  him  great  respect 
and  courtesy.   There  are  no  other  ways  than  these  of  honoring 
your  country.    To  show  respect  for  a  person  you  must  know 
as  much  as  possible  about  him.    What  has  he  done  to  de- 
serve your  respect?    At  school  you  honor  the  hero  of  your 
football  team,  the  girl  who  got  the  highest  marks  in  the 
class,  the  boy  who  put  out  a  fire.    Before  you  can  honor 
your  country  you   must  know  why  it  is  worthy  of  your 
honor.     This   is  why  you   spend  so  much  time  at  school 
studying  American  history.    As  you  have  already  learned, 
there  are  some  incidents  in  this  history  of  which  you  are 
ashamed,  but  most  of  the  pages  tell  of  men  and  of  deeds  of 
which  you  can  be  really  proud.    Learn  all  that  you  can  of 
the  early  colonists  who  braved  Indians,  wolves,  and  hunger ; 
read  and  reread  the  stories  of  the  men  and  women  who 
pushed  west  into  unknown  dangers,  of  those  who  helped 
to  build  towns,  start  schools  and  colleges,  found  hospitals. 
Find   out   who   are   helping   to    carry  American  ideals   to 
Alaska,  the  Philippines,  and  our  other  possessions. 

25.  There  is  no  danger  that  most  Americans  will  honor 
another   country   more   than   their   own.    But  it  is   some- 
times hard  for  those  born  in  foreign  countries  to  live  up  to 
this  fourth  requirement.    Men  from  every  part  of  the  world 
have  come  to  America.   Some  of  them  never  attempt  to  learn 
our  language  or  our  customs.   They  think  only  of  themselves, 
working  hard  and  saving  money,  so  that  after  a  time  they 
can  return  to  their  home  country  to  live  on  the  money  made 
here.    Such  a  person  never  even  begins  to  be  an  American. 


MAKING  AN  AMERICAN  69 

26.  The  first  step  for  a  foreigner  to  take  in  honoring  the 
United  States  is  to  become  a  citizen.    This  means  that  he 
must  solemnly  pledge  himself  to  make  this  country  first  in 
his  affections  and  to  do  all  that  he  can  to  become  a  loyal 
American.    Before  our  government  will  call  a  Eussian  or  any 
other  foreigner  an  American,  it  requires  him  to  make  this 
promise  in  court: 

It  is  my  intention  to  become  a  citizen  of  the  United  States 
and  to  renounce  absolutely  and  forever  all  allegiance  and  fidelity 
to  any  foreign  prince,  potentate,  state  or  sovereignty,  and  par- 
ticularly to  .  .  .,  of  which  at  this  time  I  am  a  citizen  (a  subject), 
and  it  is  my  intention  to  reside  permanently  in  the  United 
States. 

V.  AN  AMERICAN  MUST  SERVE  HIS  COUNTRY  EVERY  DAY 
What  Serving  Means 

27.  "Serve"  means  to  help  or  to  work  for.    Most  people 
are  kept  busy  working  for  themselves.    But  no  person  should 
let  a  day  go  by  without  doing  something  that  is  for  the 
good  of  his  country.    This  is  not  so  hard  as  it  seems.    The 
United  States  has  more  than  a  hundred  million  people,  who 
live  in  small  groups.    You  will  never  even  see  most  of  these 
millions,  but  you  will  always  be  a  part  of  some  group.    You 
must  serve  your  group,  however  large  or  small  it  is.    The 
smallest  groups  of  people  are  families,  the  next  larger  are 
neighborhoods,  —  groups  of  families,  —  and  finally  villages, 
towns,  and  cities.    You  spend  part  of  your  .time  at  home  with 
the  rest  of  your  family,  part  of  it  at  school,  part  at  church, 
and  some  of  it  on  the  playground.    You  are  seldom  alone. 

28.  Even  when  school  days  are  over,  young  people  will 
live  and  work  and  play  in  groups.    Whether  you  work  in 


70  MY  COUNTRY 

an  office,  in  a  factory,  in  a  hospital,  in  the  army,  you  will 
be  one  worker  among  many.  You  will  probably  become  a 
member  of  the  Bed  Cross,  some  church,  an  athletic  club, 
or  one  of  the  hundreds  of  societies  in  the  country.  You 
will  have  to  serve  your  country  by  serving  the  different 
groups  of  people  with  whom  you  study  and  work  and  play. 


Copr.  Life  Publishing  Co. 

How  did  This  Family  serve  the  Country  ? 

29.  It  is  natural  for  people  to  live  in  groups.  So  natural 
is  it  that  when  a  person  chooses  to  live  entirely  alone,  it 
seems  very  queer.  In  a  California  town  strangers  are  always 
shown  a  pretty  little  cottage  with  closed  blinds.  Here  lives 
an  old  woman  whom  no  one  except  a  brother  has  seen  for 
twenty  years.  She  lives  with  her  cats,  works  in  her  garden, 
but  never  goes  out  among  people  or  allows  them  to  come 


MAKING  AN  AMERICAN  71 

to  her.  In  various  parts  of  the  country  there  are  "hermits" 
—  men  who  for  some  reason  have  chosen  to  live  alone  and 
to  see  as  little  as  possible  of  other  men  and  women.  Such 
persons  make  poor  citizens,  for  living  means  getting  and 
giving,  helping  and  being  helped. 

How  School  Pupils  can  Serve 

30.  We  have  already  seen  that  serving  is  helping.    This 
means  that  now,  while  you  are  in  school,  you  must  in  some 

way  help 

1.  YQUP  family 

2.  Your  school 

3.  Your  church 

4.  Your  neighborhood 

5.  Your  garden  or  other  club 

6.  Your  town 

If  you  suddenly  left  your  home  and  went  to  a  distant  part 
of  the  country,  in  what  way  would  your  family,  school, 
church,  club,  and  town  miss  you  ?  This  is  the  best  possible 
test  for  finding  out  how  much  or  how  little  you  are  doing 
that  is  helpful  to  others. 

Some  Special  Ways  of  Serving 

31.  Anything  that  a  person  does  or  says  to  make  others 
safer,  healthier,  or  happier  is  serving  his  country.    If  you 
live  on  a  farm  which  sends  milk  to  the  village  or  city,  you 
can  help  —  no   one  knows   how  many  people  —  by  seeing 
that  no  dirt  or  impurity  of  any  kind  touches  this   milk. 
Impure  milk  causes  disease.    If  it  is  your  part  of  the  work 
to  scald  the  milk  cans,  you  can  learn  to  do  this  faultlessly. 


72 


MY  COUNTRY 


You  can  help  destroy  the  pests  that  kill  vines  and  fruit  trees 
so  that  they  will  not  spread  to  other  farms  and  villages. 
If,  when  the  elm  beetle  first  appeared,  every  person  had 

seen  to  it  that  his  own 
trees  were  free  from 
the  pest,  several  million 
dollars'  worth  of  valu- 
able trees  would  have 
been  saved. 

32.  You  can  help 
take  care  of  the  road 
which  runs  past  your 
farm.  If  a  heavy  rain 
has  washed  out  a  part 
of  it,  even  one  boy  could 
repair  the  damage  with- 
out bothering  the  road 
commissioners.  If  there 
is  a  bad  curve  near 
your  place  which  might 
result  in  accidents,  or 
a  washout  which  you 
cannot  repair,  you  can 

Copr.  Published  i-hoto  Service        »t   least   put    Up    a    sign 

A  Bad  Curve  warning  the  passers-by 

What  could  a  schoolboy  do  to  prevent  accident?     of  the  danger.     Every 

well-regulated      town 

has  officials  who  are  supposed  to  attend  to  roads,  pure  milk, 
and  the  like,  but  this  does  not  change  your  own  duty.  So 
far  as  possible,  each  person  must  be  a  volunteer  town  official 
What  you  can  do,  you  should  do  regardless  of  anyone  else. 


MAKING  AN  AMERICAN  73 

33.  Often  by  not  doing  a  certain  thing  a  person  is  really 
serving  his  community.    If  every  man  in  the  city  threw  his 
newspaper  into  the  street  when  he  had  finished  reading  it, 
automobiles  would  get  stalled  in  drifts  of  newspapers.     By 
not  doing  this   careless  thing   a   man   helps   to   keep   the 
streets  attractive  and  to  save  the  expense  of  gathering  up 
the  litter. 

34.  During  the  Great  War  ex-President  Taft  said  there 
was  one  special  way  in  which  everybody  could   help   the 
country  —  by   becoming   an   accurate   information-spreader. 
So  many  people  repeat  what  they   hear  without  knowing 
or  caring  whether  it  is  true  that  much  harm  is  often  done. 
In  1917   somebody   started  the   story   that   stockings  and 
sweaters  which  women  had  knit  for  the  soldiers  were  being 
sold  to  department  stores.    The  story  was  untrue,  but  thou- 
sands  of   persons   heard   it,   believed    it,   and   repeated   it. 
A  bank  was  once  ruined  by  a  "run"  caused  by  a  false 
report  that  the  cashier  had  stolen  some  of  the  bank's  money. 
A  good  business  rule  would  be  a  good  citizenship  rule : 

When  in  doubt,  say  nothing.  If  you  don't  know  a  thing, 
don't  tell  it.  Don't  think  that  you  know  a  thing ;  be  sure  that 
you  know  it. 

QUESTIONS  AND  PROBLEMS 

1.  Take  Roosevelt's  definition  of  an  American  boy  apart, 
sentence  by  sentence,  and  explain  what  it  means.  2.  Describe 
a  person  whom  each  of  these  words  would  fit  —  coward,  weak- 
ling, bully,  shirk,  prig.  3.  Roosevelt  is  "the  kind  of  man  of 
whom  America  can  really  be  proud."  Find  out  what  kind  of 
boy  he  was.  Could  his  teacher  or  his  parents  have  told  that 
some  day  he  would  be  a  successful  American  ?  Try  to  prove 
your  answer. 


74  MY  COUNTRY 

4.  What  is  an  American  ?  5.  Who  besides  persons  born  in 
this  country  can  become  Americans  ?  6.  If  you  had  been  born 
in  Italy  and  had  come  to  America  with  your  father  and  mother 
when  you  were  ten  years  old,  how  could  you  become  a  citizen 
(see  Appendix,  p.  386)  ? 

7.  Make  for  yourself  a  definition  of  liberty.  8.  Compare 
money  and  liberty.  9.  Explain  in  what  ways  men  who  are  in 
prison  have  failed  to  learn  how  to  use  liberty.  10.  Tramps 
sometimes  claim  that  they  are  the  only  persons  who  value 
liberty.  Prove  either  that  they  do  or  do  not  value  it. 

11.  If  a  boy's  father  should  die  and  leave  him  a  thousand 
dollars,  the  boy  could  not  have  this  money  until  he  was  twenty- 
one.  Can  you  explain  why?  12.  If  a  boy  breaks  a  window 
or  injures  another  person's  property  his  father  must  pay  for  it. 
The  father  may  make  the  boy  earn  the  money,  but  the  law 
holds  the  father  responsible.  Can  you  tell  why? 

13.  Explain  "  Earning  the  right  to  have  liberty  for  yourself 
means  being  competent  to  use  it  properly."  14.  Can  you  do 
as  you  please  on  Saturdays  ?  If  so,  write  out  carefully  how 
you  spent  last  Saturday.  Did  you  enjoy  the  day  ?  How  could 
you  have  had  a  better  time  ? 

15.  A  college  professor  has  said  that  one  of  the  saddest  sights 
he  sees  is  freshmen  struggling  with  their  new  liberty.   Can  you 
explain  what  the  professor  meant  ?    Remember  that  in  college 
students  are  left  to  plan  their  own  study  hours  and  pastimes. 

16.  Do  you  study  better  at  school  or  at  home  ?    Why  ? 

17.  What  is  leisure?    18.  Tell  several  interesting  ways  in 
which  people  use  their  leisure. 

19.  What  does  "  mastering  "  a  furnace  mean  ?   "  mastering." 
dishwashing  ? 

20.  What  is  a  useful  occupation  ?    21.  Do  you  do  any  useful 
work  now ?  If  not,  can  you  think  of  anything  that  you  might  do? 


MAKING  AN  AMERICAN  75 

22.  What  occupation  do  you  expect  to  take  up  when  you 
are  through  school  ?  23.  Are  you  doing  anything  now  to 
prepare  for  it  ? 

24.  Rich  people  should  have  some  useful  work  as  well  as 
poor  people.    Why  ? 

25.  Plan  to  have  your  class  debate  this  question:  Resolved, 
That  every  boy  and  girl  ought  to  master  some  form  of  play. 

26.  How  can  a  person  master  a  language?    27.  Wrheii  will 
you  have  mastered  it  ? 

28.  How  can  you  honor  a  person  ?  a  country  ?  29.  What 
persons  in  your  town  could  you  honor  ? 

30.  Is  a  person  honoring  this  country  when  he  lives  here 
twenty  years  without  becoming  a  citizen  ?  31.  Many  foreigners 
in  our  cities  did  not  try  to  become  citizens  until  the  war  of  1914 
broke  out.  Why  was  this  dishonoring  the  United  States  ? 

32.  How  can  a  person  serve  his  country  ?  33.  Explain  how 
the  people  are  divided  into  groups. 

34.  Tell  one  way  in  which  you  can  serve  (0r  help)  (1)  your 
family,   (2)  your  school,    (3)  your  church,  (4)  your  neighbor- 
hood, (5)  your  club,  (6)  your  town.   In  answering  the  question 
on  page  71,  section  30,  one  boy  wrote  : 

"  My  family  would  miss  me  because  I  cut  all  the  kindling. 

"  My  school  would  miss  me  because  I  belong  to  the  Clean-Up 
Club  and  pick  up  the  papers  and  litter  around  the  school  house. 

"  My  church  would  miss  me  because  I  put  ten  cents  of  my 
own  money  into  the  collection  box  every  Sunday. 

"  The  Boy  Scouts  would  miss  me  because  I  am  the  best  tree- 
climber  and  can  help  with  the  younger  boys. 

"The  only  thing  I  do  for  the  town  is  to  help  scrape  the 
gypsy-moth  eggs  off  the  trees  on  our  street." 

35.  Explain  how  what  you  do  for  your  group  helps  the  whole 
nation. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  CHILDREN'S  AGE 

What  do  we  mean  by  "  the  People  "  ? 

1.  Almost  a  third  of  "the  people"  of  the  United  States 
are  children  and  young  men  and  women  under  twenty-one 
years  of  age.    There  are  enough  of  them  to  make  a  nation 
in  themselves.    Neither  Switzerland  nor  Greece,  counting  all 
its  men,  women,  and  children,  has  as  many  people  as  the 
United   States  has  children  and  young  men  and  women. 
When  men  have  written  the  history  of  nations  they  have 
often  given  special  names  to  certain  periods.    You  will  find 
such  headings  as  "  The  Golden  Age,"  "  The  Period  of  Colo- 
nization," "  The  Era  of  Machinery,"  in  your  history  text- 
books.   It  would  not  be  strange  if  some  future  historian  of 
the  United  States  should  give  a  whole   chapter  to  "The 
Children's  Age."    Do  you  know  what  period  he  would  be 
describing  ?     It  began  a  little  before  the  Civil  War.     You 
are  now  living  in  it;  and  if  you  become  the  right  kind  of 
American  citizens,  when  you  are  men  and  women  you  will 
see  to  it  that  the  children's  age  is  still  flourishing. 

The  Children  of  Long  Ago 

2.  All  that  many  historians  have  thought  it  important 
to  tell  us  about  the  boys  and  girls  who  lived  centuries 
ago  makes  a  mournful  picture.     It  is  hard  to  believe  it; 

76 


THE  CHILDREN'S  AGE  77 

yet  it  is  true  that  some  nations  have  thought  so  little  of 
their  children  that  when  sickness  or  trouble  came  to  a 
family  they  allowed  parents  to  offer  one  of  their  children 
as  a  sacrifice.  In  other  countries,  if  a  child  was  born  with 
a  twisted  foot,  or  a  hunched  back,  or  sightless  eyes,  or  even 
if  it  was  simply  weak,  parents  could  leave  it  in  the  woods 
or  fields  to  die.  Nobody  knows  how  many  Washingtons 
and  Lincolns  have  been  lost  to  the  world  in  this  way. 

3.  In  all  countries,  in  every  age,  the  strong  children  of 
noble  parents  have  been  well  cared  for,  but  for  many  cen- 
turies poor  or  weak  children  were  almost  always  neglected. 
Only  a  few  were  educated ;  it  was  not  thought  worth  while 
to  teach  most  of  them  even  to  read  and  write. 


Children  who  talk  with  Rulers 

4.  If  a  prophet  had  told  Augustus  Caesar  that  some  day 
there  would  be,  far  beyond  the  setting  sun,  a  great  nation 
more  powerful  than  Eome,  with  a  ruler  more  powerful  than 
he,  and  that  in  this  country  every  year  thousands  of  boys 
and  girls,  rich  and  poor,  sickly  and  healthy,  would  go  on 
pilgrimages  to  see  that  ruler,  who  would  receive  them  and 
talk  with  them  as  if  they  too  might  some  day  be  Caesars, 
would  he  not  have  said,  "The  prophet  is  mad"? 

5.  But  this  is  what  has  finally  come  to  pass.    The  West- 
ern nation  that  is  greater  than  the  Roman  Empire  is  the 
United  States.    Its  ruler,  who  is  more  powerful  than  Caesar, 
is  the  president.    Not  only  do  the  children  of  America  go 
from  all  parts  of  the  country  to  see  the  president  and  tell 
him  about  their  clubs  and  their  gardens,  but  the  president 
calls  on  them  to  help  him  and  the  nation. 


78  MY  COUNTKY 

Calling  on  the  President  of  the  United  States 

6.  On  November  30,  1914,  seven  special  trains  of  Pull- 
man sleepers  pulled  out  of  Ohio,  carrying  over  a  thousand 
school  pupils  and  their  friends  to  Washington.    This  party 
of  young  travelers  had  the  best  food  and  the  best  service 
that  the  railroad  could  provide.    In  Washington  they  made 
their  headquarters  at  one  of  the  best  hotels.    With  the  help 
of  guides  they  toured  the  city,  went  to  Washington's  home 
at  Mount  Vernon,  and  on  December  2  were  received  by 
President  Wilson  at  the  White  House.  The  President  talked 
with  them  as  if  they  were  persons  of  importance  —  and 
they  were.    From  Washington  they  went  to  Philadelphia 
and  then  to  New  York  City,  where  they  were  entertained 
at  the  expense  of  the  city's  Chamber  of  Commerce.    The 
president  of  this  association  and  the  mayor  of  the  city  both 
addressed  them. 

Boy  and  Girl  Farmers 

7.  The  President  of  the  United   States  and  the  mayor 
of  the  largest  city  in  the  world,  rushed  though  they  were 
with   important  business,  realized  that  this   delegation   of 
young   people  was  too  important  to  be  neglected.     They 
were  members  of  corn-growing  clubs,  city-garden  clubs,  pig 
clubs,  home-beautincation  clubs,  and  other  clubs  of  the  state. 
Many  of   them  were   prize-winners   in   contests   organized 
by  the   Ohio  Agricultural   Commission.    The  prize  was  a 
week's  trip  with  all  expenses  paid.    Besides  these  Ohio  club 
members,  that  same  year  thousands  of  boys  and  girls  from 
other  states  also  went  to  Washington  and  talked  with  the 
President  and  congressmen. 


THE  CHILDREN'S  AGE 
The  President's  Proclamation  to  Children 


79 


8.  Nearly  a  million  American  school  pupils  now  belong 
to  clubs  of  this  kind.  By  means  of  these  clubs  it  has 
been  proved  that  a  boy  can  be  as  successful  a  farmer  as 
his  father,  and  a  girl  as  good  a  "preserver"  as  her  mother. 


Copr.  Publishers'  Thoto  Service 

American  Boys  and  Girls  now  help  feed  the  Nation 

The  first  clubs  were  organized  in  1906,  and  every  spring 
some  of  the  prize-winners  go  to  Washington  to  call  on  the 
Secretary  of  Agriculture  and  the  president.  In  this  way 
the  club  members  have  learned  how  important  Washington 
is,  and  Washington  has  learned  how  important  the  children 
are.  If  it  had  not  been  for  these  young  people,  and  for 
the  Boy  Scouts,  the  Girl  Scouts,  and  the  Camp  Fire  Girls, 
President  Wilson  would  never  have  issued  a  proclamation  to 


80  MY  COUNTRY 

the  American  schoolboys  and  girls,  as  he  did  in  1917.    This 
was  the  first  time  that  our  nation  had  honored  its  children 

so  highly. 

JUNIOR  RED  CROSS 

To  the  School  Children  of  the  United  States  : 

A  proclamation :  The  President  of  the  United  States  is  also 
president  of  the  American  Red  Cross.  It  is  from  these  offices 
joined  in  one  that  I  write  you  a  word  of  greeting  at  this  time 
when  so  many  of  you  are  beginning  the  school  year. 

The  American  Red  Cross  has  just  prepared  a  junior  member- 
ship with  school  activities,  in  which  every  pupil  in  the  United 
States  can  find  a  chance  to  serve  our  country.  The  school  is  the 
natural  center  of  your  life.  Through  it  you  can  best  work  in  the 
great  cause  of  freedom  to  which  we  have  all  pledged  ourselves. 

Our  Junior  Red  Cross  will  bring  to  you  opportunities  of 
service  to  your  community  and  to  other  communities  all  over 
the  world,  and  guide  your  service  with  high  and  religious 
ideals.  It  will  teach  you  how  to  save  in  order  that  suffer- 
ing children  elsewhere  may  have  the  chance  to  live.  It  will 
teach  you  how  to  prepare  some  of  the  supplies  which  wounded 
soldiers  and  homeless  families  lack.  It  will  send  to  you, 
through  the  Red  Cross  bulletins,  the  thrilling  stories  of  relief 
and  rescue.  And,  best  of  all,  more  perfectly  than  through  any 
of  your  other  school  lessons,  you  will  learn  by  doing  those 
kind  things,  under  your  teacher's  direction,  to  be  the  future 
good  citizens  of  this  great  country  which  we  all  love. 

And  I  commend  to  all  school  teachers  in  the  country  the 
simple  plan  which  the  American  Red  Cross  has  worked  out 
to  provide  for  your  cooperation,  knowing  as  I  do  that  school 
children  will  give  their  best  service  under  the  direct  guidance 
and  instruction  of  their  teachers.  Is  not  this  perhaps  the 
chance  for  which  you  have  been  looking  to  give  your  time  and 
efforts  in  some  measure  to  meet  our  national  needs  ? 

Woodrow  Wilson,  President 


THE  CHILDREN'S  AGE 


81 


9.  If  you  read  this  carefully  you  will  discover  how  sure 
the  President  was  that  the  children  would  come  to  the 
assistance  of  their  country.  Why  should  he  not  have  been 
sure  ?  Had  he  not  shaken  hands  in  one  day  with  more  than 
a  thousand  of  them  ?  Did  he  not  know  that  a  successful 
raiser  of  pigs,  corn,  or  potatoes  or  a  canner  of  vegetables 


Copr.  International  Film. 


A  Girls'  Crusade  that  did  not  Fail 

and  fruits  would  make  a  successful  member  of  the  Red 
Cross  ?  Working  in  the  Red  Cross  meant  rolling  bandages, 
making  splints  for  broken  limbs,  knitting  sweaters  and 
stockings,  saving  sugar  and  meat  and  wheat  for  the  army, 
raising  money,  and  helping  in  dozens  of  other  ways. 


A  Children's  Crusade  that  Failed 

10.  The  textbooks  of  ancient  and  medieval  history  have 
little  to  tell  us  about  the  children  of  the  nations  that  have 
come  and  gone.  One  of  the  few  interesting  things  that  they 


82  MY  COUNTRY 

do  tell  is  an  event  called  the  Children's  Crusade.  Hun- 
dreds of  years  before  Columbus  discovered  America,  Jeru- 
salem was  captured  by  Mohammedans,  and  both  Gentiles 
and  Jews  all  over  Europe  mourned  that  unholy  hands  should 
touch  sacred  relics.  One  of  the  English  kings  started  great 
crusades  to  try  to  rescue  the  city.  But  they  all  failed. 
Finally,  somebody  suggested  that  "the  innocent  hands"  of 
children  might  do  what  men  had  failed  to  accomplish. 

11.  So  in   1212  over  thirty  thousand   children,  with   a 
seventeen-year-old  boy  as  leader,  tried  the  impossible  task. 
This  crusade  army  was  the  first  and  only  great  band  of  chil- 
dren that  the  world  had  seen,  or  was  to  see,  for  centuries. 
It  failed ;  but  to-day  we  wonder  that  it  did  not  suggest  to 
the  people  what  an  organized  army  of  children  could  do 
for  the  nation  at  home. 

A  Children's  Crusade  that  did  not  Fail 

12.  More  than  seven  hundred  years  later,  in  an  American 
city,  almost  as  many  boys  as  in  the   Children's  Crusade 
started  on  a  crusade  that  could  not  fail.    In  brown  uniforms 
and  "  soldier "  hats,  with  flags  and  banners,  they  marched 
shoulder  to  shoulder  behind  their  bands  of  music.    One  of 
the  largest  and  busiest  cities  in  the  world  had  given  the  use 
of  its  busiest  streets  for  this  boys'  parade.    The  flags  that 
they  carried  were  the  Stars  and  Stripes,  their  banners  were 
white  with  a  scarlet  cross. 

13.  These  boys  were  all  pledged  to  serve  their  country 
in  time  of  need.    That  time  had  come.    It  was  1917,  and 
the  United   States  was  at  war.    They  marched  merely  to 
show  that  their  little  army  was   ready  to  help  the   Red 


THE  CHILDREN'S  AGE 


83 


Cross  and  the  nation.  Other  bands  of  both  boys  and  girls 
marched  in  the  streets  of  other  cities  and  towns.  These 
young  crusaders  were  bound  not  for  the  battlefield,  but  for 
the  corn  fields,  the  potato  patches,  the  kitchen  canneries. 


A  Boys'  Crusade  that  did  not  Fail 


How  the  School  Pupils  helped  the  Nation 

14.  The  story  of  what  the  boys  and  girls  did  during 
the  Great  War  reads  almost  like  a  fairy  tale.  In  one  year 
the  Boy  Scouts  raised  over  $  100,0 00,0 00  for  the  govern- 
ment by  selling  Liberty  Bonds.  In  New  York  State,  when 
the  department  of  agriculture  began  to  plan  how  the  state 
could  furnish  its  share  of  food  for  our  army  and  our  allies, 
it  had  to  know,  first  of  all,  how  much  grain,  fruit,  vegetables, 
were  on  hand,  how  much  more  land  could  be  cultivated,  how 
many  workers  would  be  needed.  To  get  all  this  information 


84  MY  COUNTRY 

meant  taking  an  agricultural  census.  But  a  census  costs 
time  and  money.  Time  was  short,  and  there  was  no  money 
available.  Where  could  workers  who  would  ask  no  pay  be 
found  ?  In  the  schools,  of  course.  Within  five  days  every 
farmer  in  fifty-six  counties  of  the  state  had  been  "investi- 
gated" by  school  children.  And  within  ten  days  the  state 
had  the  information  that  it  needed.  Idaho  was  helped  in 
the  same  way  by  its  school  pupils. 

15.  When  summer  came  and  the  states  did  not  have  men 
workers  enough  to  plow  and  sow  and  cultivate,  who  came 
to  the  rescue  ?   The  schools,  of  course.    On  hillsides  and  in 
valleys  all  over  the  country  tents  were  pitched,  huts  ^were 
built,  and  the  boys  of  America  went  into  summer  quarters 
to  fight  with  hoes  and  rakes.    In  some  states  there  were 
"flying  squadrons,"  which  were  called  on  in  emergencies. 
If  a  farmer  found  that  his  tomatoes  would   spoil  if  not 
picked  at  once,  he  telephoned  to  the  flying  squadron.     If 
another  farmer  found  that   the   potato-bug   army  was  too 
much  for  him,  he  summoned  the  flying  squadron.    And  the 
squadron  never  failed. 

16.  Girls  as  well  as  boys  were  busy  in  the  fields  and  in 
the  schoolhouses.    The  schools  of  one  town  vied  with  the 
schools  of  a  near-by  town.     One  class  vied  with  another. 
In  a  few  months  one  small  sewing  class  made  for  a  Belgian 
relief  box : 

18  hot-water-bag  covers  9  pairs  slippers 

54  sheets  9  convalescent  gowns. 

36  pillowcases  36  pairs  socks 

27  wash  cloths  18  pairs  bed  socks 

27  pairs  of  pajamas  18  bath  towels 

36  hospital-bed  sheets  36  face  towels 


THE  CHILDBEN'S  AGE  85 

and  for  a  box  to  be  shipped  to  Red  Cross  headquarters: 

75  children's  dresses  14  chemises 

149  tampon  bags  403  body  bandages 

224  baby  bootees  42  eye  bandages 

219  war  shoes  373  bathing  suits 

76  hospital  nightshirts  12  air  cushions 

62  crocheted  trench  caps  77  pneumonia  jackets 

597  slings  50  bath  towels 

19  petticoats 

Why  is  America  a  Children's  Nation  ? 

17.  How  has  it  come  about  that  America  is  to-day  a 
children's  nation?    It  is  easy  to  explain.    As  you  already 
know,  America  is  the  people's  country.    Little  by  little  the 
nation  has  learned  that  the  "  people  "  means  all  the  people. 
In  the  United  States,  as  in  other  countries,  girls  at  first 
received  little  education,  and  women  were  supposed  to  be 
interested  only  in  their  housework.    After  a  while  it  was 
discovered  that  women  were  really  "people,"  and,  finally,  that 
children  were  also. 

18.  Strange  as  it  will  seem  to  you,  men  who  lived  many 
years  ago  did  not  see  what  we  to-day  think  was  as  plain  as 
the  noses  on  their  faces  —  that  if  they  expected  all  the  men 
and  women  in  a  nation,  not  just  a  selected  few,  to  be  useful 
citizens,  they  must  train  up  all  the  children,  not  just  a  few. 
If  they  trained  only  a  few  boys  here  and  a  few  girls  there, 
twenty  years  later  they  would  have  a  nation  with  small 
groups  of  trained  men  and  women,  and  all  the  others  like 
sheep,  to  be  led  or  driven  as  the  few  desired.    Even  the 
sickly  children  and  those  who  are  crippled  or  blind  or  deaf 
are  an  important  part  of  the  American  people. 


86  MY  COUNTRY 

What  the  United  States  is  doing  for  its  Children 

19.  About  fifty  years  ago  men  in  the  United  States  began 
to  see  this,  and  at  once  started  to  make  the  nation  safe  and 
attractive  for  children  and  to  train  them  all  to  become 
good  citizens.  Here  are  a  few  of  the  things  which  the 
American  nation  has  done  or  is  doing  for  its  children : 

1.  It  has  made  hundreds  of  laws  to  protect  and  help  them. 
It  takes  more  than  a  thousand  pages  of  a  closely  printed  book 
to  give  the  most  important  state  laws  about  child  labor. 

2.  Every  year  thousands  of  books  are  written  especially  to 
entertain  children  and  young  people. 

3.  Special   boys'  and   girls'  magazines    are   printed  every 
month. 

4.  Millions  of  dollars  are  spent  each  year  for  schools. 

5.  Many  of  the  schoolhouses  are  the  finest  buildings  that 
skill  and  money  can  devise.   Croesus  himself  did  not  live  in  such 
great  luxury  as  do  many  pupils  in  their  magnificent  steam- 
heated  schoolhouses,  with  their  beautiful  pictures,  attractive 
assembly  halls,  convenient  lunch  rooms,  and  tiled  bathrooms. 

6.  All   large   public   libraries   and   most   small  ones  have 
separate  reading  rooms  and  separate  lists  of  books  for  chil- 
dren.   Special  librarians  are  ready  to  show  children  how  to  get 
information  from  encyclopedias  and  other  books  of  reference 
and  to  give  them  any  other  needed  help. 

7.  All  large  museums  have  attendants  to  show  children  the 
treasures  of  art. 

8.  Many  artists  of  great  ability  give  all  their  time  to  paint- 
ing  pictures  for  children  to  enjoy. 

9.  Since  the  nation  began  to  understand  that  all  its  chil- 
dren will  become  citizens,  they  have  opened  up  playgrounds  and 
parks  for  them  in  every  part  of  the  country.    In  Washington's 
time,  and  even  in  Lincoln's,  the  people  would  have  refused  to 
give  a  penny  for  such  an  absurd  thing  as  an  expensive  park  for 


THE  CHILDKEN'S  AGE 


8T 


children  to  play  in.  But  to-day  cities  tear  down  whole  blocks 
of  tenement  houses  to  make  room  for  a  playground.  When 
they  cannot  do  this  they  shut  off  traffic  from  certain  streets 
and  say,  "  No  wagons,  no  automobiles,  only  children  allowed.'7 
In  an  Illinois  river  there  is  a  Children's  Isle.  On  the 
New  England  coast  there  is  another  children's  island  that 
has  been  used  as  a  vacation  home  for  crippled  children. 


A  Children's  Library 

10.  There  are  separate  hospitals  for  children  and  separate 
wards  for  them  in  regular  hospitals.  There  are  children's 
specialists  who  give  all  their  time  to  studying  and  curing 
children's  diseases.  Schools  have  school  physicians  to  examine 
the  eyes,  ears,  throat,  teeth  of  the  pupils  and  to  tell  them  how 
to  take  care  of  their  health.  Some  cities  now  have  school  nurses 
who  go  into  the  homes  of  pupils  to  tell  the  parents  how  to 
prepare  the  right  kind  of  meals  for  their  children. 


•88  MY  COUNTRY 

11.  The  United  States  government  at  Washington  has  a 
special  Children's  Bureau  that  gives  all  its  time  to  studying 
the  needs  of  children  and  planning  ways  of  helping  them. 
New  York  City  has  a  similar  bureau  in  connection  with  its 
health  department. 

The  Children's  Debt  to  the  Nation 

20.  A  nation  always  demands  pay  for  what  it  does  for 
its  people.  When  you  are  men  and  women,  you  must  pay 
for  what  is  being  done  for  you  to-day.  Your  debt  will  be 
very  large.  In  the  Great  War  your  fathers,  older  brothers, 
and  neighbors  paid  a  costly  price  to  keep  the  country  safe  for 
you.  Many  of  them  paid  with  their  lives,  others  with  their 
fortunes,  their  time,  their  brains.  This  is  the  way  that  a  well- 
known  writer1  tried  to  explain  to  school  pupils  what  this  debt 
was  and  how  it  must  be  paid  back  (he  wrote  these  words  in 
1917,  when  thousands  of  children  in  Europe  were  starving) : 

Girls  and  boys  of  America,  you  are  the  hope  of  the  world ! 
Asia  cannot  show  your  equal,  nor  Europe,  nor  Africa,  nor 
South  America.  .  .  .  You  have  clean,  strong  bodies,  strong  wills, 
alert  minds,  big  hearts ;  .  .  .  purity,  chivalry,  loyalty,  imagina- 
tion. I  know  nothing  more  wonderful  in  poetry  or  in  life 
than  some  of  you.  At  your  best  you  are  like  new  swords 
drawn  for  battle,  keen  and  bright,  fit  for  any  high  service 
under  heaven.  .  .  .  Children  are  dying  in  Europe,  starving, 
failing  day  by  day,  going  off  into  thin  air.  And  each  little  girl 
as  she  goes  leaves  her  doll  to  her  sister,  and  each  little  boy 
as  he  goes  leaves  his  trumpet  or  his  pocketknife  to  his  brother ; 
but  their  chance  in  life  they  leave  to  you.  You  who  are  ten, 
twelve,  fifteen,  sixteen,  or  seventeen  now  will  probably  not  be 
closely  touched  by  it  all.  Your  brothers  may  go  to  fight ;  but 
you  will  stay  at  home  and  do  —  what  ? 
1  Hermann  Hagedorn. 


THE  CHILDREN'S  AGE  89 

Using  your  "Chance  in  Life" 

21.  A  "chance  in  life"  means  a  chance  to  become  a 
statesman,  an  artist,  a  physician,  an  inventor,  or  to  do  some 
other  useful  work.  But  how  can  a  boy  in  America  use  the 
chance  in  life  that  a  boy  in  Poland  or  Belgium  left  to  him  ? 
This  reads  as  if  in  some  way  he  could  lead  two  lives.  It 


An  Attractive  Corner  in  a  Large  City  Schoolhouse 

sounds  impossible,  but  it  is  not.  One  of  the  most  expert 
mining  engineers  that  the  United  States  ever  had  was 
asked  one  day  to  explain  his  success.  A  far-away  look  came 
into  his  eyes  as  he  answered  the  question  simply.  "My 
father  was  a  brilliant  engineer.  A  great  career  was  ahead  of 
him,  but  when  I  was  five  years  old  he  was  struck  down  by 
fever.  The  day  before  he  died  he  put  his  hand  in  mine 
and  said,  'I'll  have  to  leave  my  chance  to  you,  son;  don't 


90  MY  COUNTRY 

waste  it.'  As  I  grew  up  I  firmly  believed  that  I  must  do 
my  own  work  and  his  too.  I  never  wasted  a  moment,  I 
never  lost  an  opportunity  to  get  ahead.  I  felt  all  the  time 
that  I  was  being  pushed  forward  by  some  invisible  power. 
The  greatest  pleasure  that  I  had  as  a  young  man  was  when 
my  employer  said  I  was  worth  two  ordinary  assistants." 

22.  To  use  another  person's  chance  as  well  as  your  own 
means  to   do   your  work   a  little  better  than  you  would 
otherwise  do  it.   You  cannot  stop  halfway  to  success.   Even 
if  you  have  no  special  talent  and  become,  as  most  of  you 
will,  a  maker  of  food  or  of  clothing  or  of  some  other  article 
of  necessity  or  pleasure,  you  must  try  a  little  harder  to 
have  your  work  as  perfect  as  possible.    A  "chance  in  life" 
also  means  a  chance  to  serve  your  country. 

23.  How  can  an  American  boy  help  Poland,  or  France, 
or  Belgium  ?    Must  he  not  work  for  his  own  country  ?    He 
can  and  should  do  both.    He  must  train  himself  to  become 
a  useful   citizen   of  America  and   a  useful  citizen  of  the 
world.    This  is  simpler  than  it  sounds,  for  the  right  kind 
of  American  citizen  will  also  be  a  world  citizen.    What  is 
the   "right    kind"    of    American    citizen?    The    preceding 
chapter  has  partly  answered  this  question.   All  the  later 
chapters    will    also    help    show    what   the    right    kind   of 
American  must  be  and  do. 

QUESTIONS  AND  PROBLEMS 

1 .  When  we  speak  of  the  "  people  "  of  a  country,  whom  do 
we  mean?  2.  What  do  we  mean  by  a  "period"  of  history? 
3.  Explain  what  the  title  of  this  chapter  means. 

4.  What  did  ancient  people  sometimes  do  with  their  chil- 
dren ?  5.  What  would  happen  to  parents  in  the  United  States 


THE  CHILDREN'S  AGE  91 

if  they  should  do  this  ?  6.  Do  you  think  that  the  United  States 
does  as  much  for  its  crippled  and  blind  children  as  for  its  well 
children  ?  7.  What  could  it  do  that  it  does  not  now  do  ? 

8.  Tell  one  striking  way  in  which  Rome  under  Augustus 
Caesar  was  different  from  the  United  States  to-day.  9.  Why 
should  so  busy  and  important  a  person  as  the  president  of 
100,000,000  people  bother  to  receive  children  callers  ? 

10.  During  the  spring  and  fall  vacations  hundreds  of  school 
pupils  go  to  Washington.  Tell  about  a  large  number  who  went 
from  Ohio  one  year.  11.  Has  any  member  of  your  school 
been  to  Washington  ?  If  so,  ask  him  to  stand  before  the  class 
and  let  you  ask  questions  as  to  what  he  saw  and  did  there. 

12.  An  Indiana  business  man  who  gave  a  hundred  dollars 
toward  a  trip  to  Washington  for  the  boy  who  should  raise 
the  best  potato  crop  on  an  acre  of  land  called  the  money  a 
"good  investment."   What  do  you  think  he  meant? 

13.  Do  you  belong  to  any  kind  of  garden  or  canning  club? 
If  so,  write  a  letter  of  two  hundred  words  addressed  to  the 
Secretary  of  Agriculture  at  Washington  telling  him  how  your 
club  is  helping  the  nation. 

14.  What  is  a  proclamation  ?    15.  What  was  the  first  chil- 
dren's proclamation  ever  issued  in  the  United  States  ?   Be  pre- 
pared to  explain  each  sentence  in  this  proclamation.    16.  Tell 
two  reasons  why  the  President  knew  that  the  children  would 
not  fail  him. 

17.  What  was  the  Children's  Crusade  of  the  Middle  Ages  ? 

18.  What  is  a  crusade  ?  Look  up  the  word  in  a  good  dictionary. 

19.  Is  there  a  children's  erusade  in  America  ?    Explain  your 
answer. 

20.  The  text  mentions  one  way  in  which  the  Boy  Scouts 
helped  the  nation  during  the  Great  War.  Do  you  know  of  any 
other  way  ? 


92  MY  COUNTRY 

21.  What  is  an  agricultural  census  ?  22.  How  could  such  a 
census  be  useful  ?  23.  Tell  about  such  a  census  in  New  York 
State.  24.  Can  you  think  of  any  kind  of  census  that  the  pupils 
of  your  town  or  state  could  take  ? 

25.  What  is  a  "flying  squadron"  ?  26.  Show  how  the  kill- 
ing of  potato  bugs  by  such  a  squadron  might  help  a  nation 
win  a  war. 

27.  A  hundred   years  ago  America  was  not  a  children's 
nation.    Tell  how  the  change  has  come  about. 

28.  Name  some  of  the  things  which  the  United  States  is 
doing  for  its  children  to-day.    29.  Name  ten  books  written  to 
amuse  or  entertain  boys  and  girls.    30.  Do  you  read  regularly 
any  young  people's  magazine  ?    Bring  to  class  a  copy  of  some 
boys'  or  girls'  magazine  that  you  like.    Be  prepared  to  write 
or  to  tell  what  kind  of  stories  and  descriptions  the  magazine 
publishes  and  why  you  like  them. 

31.  Why  do  towns  and  cities  spend  large  sums  of  money 
on  playgrounds  ? 

32.  What  is  a  debt?    33.  What  kind  of  debt  do  you  owe 
your  country  ?    How  can  you  pay  it  ? 

34.  What  did  the  writer  mean  when  he  said  that  "at  your 
best  you  are  like  new  swords  drawn  for  battle,  keen  and  bright, 
fit  for  any  high  service"?  35.  What  did  he  mean  when  he 
said  that  the  boys  and  girls  who  died  in  Belgium  left  their 
chance  to  you  ?  36.  Think  over  all  that  you  know  about  Bel- 
gium or  Poland  or  France.  If  in  1917  you  had  lived  in  the 
part  of  France  that  was  ruined  by  the  enemy,  what  would  you 
have  wanted  someone  in  America  to  do  for  you  ?  37.  Can  you 
think  of  anything  you  could  have  done  for  these  children  ? 

38.  What  is  the  first  task  of  the  boy  or  the  girl  who  wants 
to  help  both  his  own  country  and  the  oppressed  countries  of 
Europe  ? 


CHAPTER  YII 
WHY  WE  HAVE  SCHOOLS 

Ten- Year-Old  Boys  are  worth  Two  Thousand  Dollars 

1.  William  Fair,  an  Englishman,  has  figured  out  what 
boys  in  countries  like  England  and  the  United  States  are 
worth  in  money.    He  found  that  some  are  worth  only  a  few 
hundred  dollars,  some  two  thousand,  some  more  than  this,  but 
that  most  ten-year-old  boys  are  worth  two  thousand  dollars. 

2.  It  is  not  at  first  easy  to  see  how  any  boy  who  per- 
haps has  only  thirty  dollars'  worth  of  clothes  and  not  more 
than  fifteen  dollars'  worth  of  footballs,  bats,  guns,  jackknives, 
etc.  can  be  such  a  valuable  person.    Even  his  clothes  and 
footballs  are  not  really  his,  for  they  probably  were  bought 
with  his  father's  money.    If  he  should  leave  school  at  ten. 
and  go  to  work,  he  could  earn  only  a  few  dollars  a  week. 
So  it  is  not  what  he  can  earn  nor  what  he  owns  that  makes 
him  worth  so  much.    What  is  it  ? 

The  Value  of  Pupils  is  a  Future  Value 

3.  Boys  and  girls  are  like  uncultivated  fields,  which  are 
only  an  expense  until  they  have  been  prepared  to  produce 
something.    Suppose  that  a  piece  of  land  is  sold  to  a  farmer 
for  $1000.    There  is  no  house  or  building  or  garden  on  the 
place.    As  it  stands  it  is  worthless,  but  the  farmer  knows 
that  if  he  gives  the  right  care  to  the  field  he  can  make  it 
pay  for  itself  and  earn  a  great  deal  of  money  for  him.    First 

93 


94  MY  COUNTRY 

he  plows  it,  then  he  buys  fertilizer  to  work  into  the  soil, 
acid  finally  he  plants  potatoes.  All  this  takes  time  and 
money.  The  first  year  he  makes  $300  over  all  his  expenses, 
the  second  year  $400,  and  by  the  third  year  the  field  has 
earned  $1000  —  what  he  paid  for  it.  The  field  keeps  on 
earning  money  for  the  farmer.  He  calls  it  a  good  in- 
vestment. 

4.  The  whole  secret  of  the  money  value  of  a  child  seems 
to  lie  in  the  fact  that  some  day  with  either  his  hands  or  his 
brains,  or  with  both,  he  will  be  able  to  make  shoes,  or  build 
houses,  or  run  an  engine,  or  paint  pictures,  or  raise  potatoes, 
or  do  some  other  useful  work.    In  other  words  he  has  a 
future  value  as  one  of  the  world's  workers.    The  pupils  that 
are   worth  two  thousand  dollars  to-day  are  the  ones  with 
healthy  bodies  who   are  in   school  learning  how  to  solve 
problems  and  to  write  compositions.    They  are  being  pre- 
pared, as  the  field  was,  to  produce  something. 

Education  is  Training 

5.  When  a  farmer  prepares  a  field  for  use,  we  say  he 
cultivates  it.    When  a  town  or  city  prepares  a  boy  and  a 
girl  to  be  useful,  we  say  that  they  are  being  trained,  or 
educated.    Education,  then,  means  simply  training.    An  edu- 
cated person  is  a  trained  person  —  a  person  prepared  for  life. 

A  Country's  Workers  are  its  Chief  Wealth 

6.  No  matter  how  much  gold  or  silver  or  diamonds  a 
nation  may  have,  it  is  poor  unless  it  has  also  hundreds  of 
thousands    of   strong,    capable   thinkers    and   workers.     On 
April  2,  1917,  the  United  States  Treasury  had  in  its  dark 


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Getting  an  Education  always  means  a  Hard  Climb 
95 


96  MY  COUNTRY 

iron  vaults  in  the  city  of  Washington  over  $3,000,000,000 
worth  of  gold,  some  of  it  in  bars  and  the  rest  in  coin.  This 
was  the  largest  amount  of  gold  ever  held  by  the  Treasury 
at  one  time.  Five  years  before  only  half  as  much  was  stored 
there,  but  the  country  was  as  rich  and  prosperous  then  as 
in  1917. 

7.  Gold  is  one  form  of  wealth,  but  gold  alone  will  not 
make  a  nation   prosperous.    Let  us  see  why.    If  suddenly 
all  the  farmers,  lawyers,  school-teachers,  all  the  weavers  of 
cloth,  the  dressmakers,  carpenters,  masons,  miners,  fishermen, 
and  the  hundreds  of  other  workers  in  the  United  States 
should  be  injured  in  such  a  way  as  to  prevent  them  from  ever 
working  again,  or  if  they  should  all  move  to  South  America 
to  live,  the  United  States  would  become  a  poor  nation,  no 
matter  how  much  gold  it  had  hidden  away  in  Washington. 
It  would  have  no  one  to  make  shoes,  coats,  houses ;  no  one 
to  mine  coal  or  to  raise  vegetables  and  wheat.    To  be  sure 
it   could  take  the  gold  from  the  Treasury  and  buy  shoes 
and  food  from  England  or  South  America,  but  this  would 
soon  be  used  up.    Not  until  the  children  had  grown  to  be 
the  country's  workers  would  prosperity  again  come  to  the 
United  States. 

Why  we  spend  Large  Sums  of  Money  on  Schools 

8.  The  people  then  are  more  valuable  than  the  nation's 
gold  or  silver.    It  is  the  men  and  women  who  pour  out  of 
the  factories  at  five  o'clock  each  night,  who  toil  in  the  office, 
on  the  farm,  and  in  the  forest,  who  are  the  greatest  present 
wealth  of  the  United  States.    And  it  is  the  boys  and  girls 
who  are  its  greatest  future   wealth,    Because   the   nation 


WHY  WE  HAVE  SCHOOLS 


9T 


understands  this,  it  spends  millions  of  dollars  every  year  on 
schools  to  make  its  children  efficient  workers  in  later  years. 
9.  There  are  more  schoolhouses  in  the  United  States  than 
in  any  other  country  in  the  world.  Every  year  our  towns, 
counties,  and  cities  spend  over  $550,000,000,  or  $35  per 
pupil,  to  give  boys  and  girls  a  free  public-school  education. 


One  of  America's  Costly  Schoolhouses 

Why  Schools  are  Necessary 

10.  Unless  a  boy  and  a  girl  have  learned  how  to  use  their 
brains  and  their  hands,  they  can  have  little  value  as  workers. 
In  some  parts  of  China  and  Mexico  a  man  can  be  hired  to 
work  all  day  for  a  few  cents.    This  is  because  he  has  never 
learned  to  read  or  write  and  has  never  been  trained  to  do  any 
skilled  work.    He  is  actually  worth  only  a  few  cents  a  day. 

11.  No  better  or  quicker  way  of  getting  skilled  hands 
and  trained  brains  has  yet  been  found  than  through  the 
schools.    Because  Lincoln  had  only  a  year's  schooling  and 


98  MY  COUNTRY 

yet  was  probably  this  country's  greatest  citizen,  some  people 
have  said,  "  Schools  are  not  necessary."  But  Lincoln  studied 
harder  by  himself  than  most  boys  do  in  school.  Sometimes 
it  was  by  the  light  of  the  open  fire  and  sometimes  by 
the  light  from  a  crack  in  the  wall.  All  but  four  of  our 
presidents  spent  many  years  in  school;  eighteen  of  them 
went  to  college. 

All  Famous  Men  and  Women  spent  Many  Years  in  Study 

12.  If  you  should  make  a  list  of  ten  of  the  men  that  you 
regard  as  the  most  famous  Americans,  you  would  find  that 
they  either  went  to  school  many  years  or  studied  for  years 
by  themselves.  You  may  be  interested  in  a  list  that  one 
boy  made  out: 

George  Washington 

Benjamin  Franklin 

Alexander  Hamilton 

Robert  Fulton 

Abraham  Lincoln 

Robert  E.  Lee 

Ulysses  S.  Grant 

Alexander  Graham  Bell 

Thomas  A.  Edison 

Woodrow  Wilson 

All  of  these  men  gave  many  years  to  hard  study.  The 
schools  in  Washington's  time  were  poor,  yet  he  attended 
school  until  he  was  sixteen  and  studied  engineering,  geome- 
try, trigonometry,  and  surveying.  It  was  not  luck  that  made 
him  a  famous  general  and  president.  If  he  had  not  mastered 
geometry  and  surveying,  he  would  not  have  been  able  to 
secure  an  appointment  as  county  surveyor.  If  he  had  not 


WHY  WE  HAVE  SCHOOLS  99 

been  made  a  surveyor,  he  might  not  have  traveled  the  long 
distances  over  the  mountains  and  become  familiar  with  the 
forests.  It  was  because  he  knew  the  forests  so  well  that  he 
succeeded  when  sent  on  an  expedition  against  the  French 
and  Indians.  This  was  when  he  was  still  young,  but  it  gave 
him  a  reputation  which  later  led  to  his  appointment  as  head 
of  all  the  American  forces  in  the  Revolutionary  War. 

13.  The  famous  author  of  "Little  Women"  and  "Jo's  Boys" 
never  attended  a  public  school,  but  she  had  two  of  the  best 
teachers  in  New  England  —  her  father,  Bronson  Alcott,  and 
the  well-known  author  Thoreau.    She  studied  many  years 
with  them,  and  for  sixteen  years  before  she  began  to  succeed 
as  an  author  she  practiced  writing  by  herself.    She  gave 
herself  the  hardest  kind  of  training,  and  finally  won  success 
because  she  never  stopped  learning  and  practicing. 

Three  of  our  Famous  Presidents 

14.  Abraham  Lincoln   was   a  famous  lawyer  before  he 
became  a  famous  president.    But  before  he  became  either 
he  was  merely  a  hard-working,  hard-studying  boy.    Read  any 
of  the  speeches  or  proclamations  that  Washington,  Lincoln, 
Wilson  wrote  and  see  if  you  think  a  person  could  have  writ- 
ten these  if  he  had  not  spent  years  in  studying  men  and 
books.    Abraham  Lincoln's  Gettysburg  Speech  and  Woodrow 
Wilson's  war  speeches  and  messages  have  been  translated 
into  almost  every  language  and  will  be  read  as  long  as 
America  is   known.    The   sentences  of  these   famous  com- 
positions are  so  simple  that  anyone  can  understand  them, 
but  only  a  person  who  had  studied  diligently  could  have 
written  them. 


100  MY  COUNTRY 

The  Schools  give  an  Equal  Chance  to  All 

15.  Neither  the  parents  nor  the  towns  can  tell  how  valu- 
able a  man  and  woman  each  boy  and  girl  will  become,  so 


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This  Man  stopped  Studying  when  Twelve  Years  Old 

all  are  treated  as  if  they  might  some  day  be  president  of 
the  United  States  or  the  "  first  lady  of  the  land."  Perhaps 
some  boy  who  is  just  beginning  the  ^  study  of  chemistry 
in  the  high  school  will,  many  years  from  now,  make  an 


WHY  WE  HAVE  SCHOOLS 


101 


important  discovery  that  will  benefit  the  whole  world.  Many 
men  have  spent  their  lives  searching  for  a  cure  for  that 
most  dreaded  disease,  cancer.  No  one  has  yet  succeeded, 


"  •*•  Wi  HM  &WHt\ 

Copr.  Life  Publishing  Co. 

This  Man  studied  Hard  for  Nineteen  Years 

but  in  some  schoolroom  to-day  there  may  be  a  boy  still 
in  knee  trousers  who  will  keep  on  into  the  high  school,  from 
high  school  will  go  to  college,  from  college  will  go  to  medical 
school,  and  then  after  years  of  patient  search  will  make  the 
great  discovery  for  which  the  world  is  anxiously  waiting. 


102  MY  .COUNTRY 

16.  The  Virginia  schoolmaster  who,  a  hundred  years  ago, 
taught  Cyrus  H.  McCormick  how  to  multiply  mixed  frac- 
tions probably  never  dreamed  that  one  day  his  pupil  would 
invent  the  reaper  and  become  one  of  the  world's  great  in- 
ventors and  manufacturers.  When,  more  than  thirty  years 
ago,  Herbert  C.  Hoover  was  a  quiet  Iowa  schoolboy,  no  one 
knew  that  he  would  save  a  nation  from  starvation.  Yet  in 
1914  he  saved  Belgium,  and  in  1917  helped  the  United 
States  feed  half  the  world.  Thousands  of  other  American 
boys  were  studying  fractions  and  history  at  the  same  time 
that  McCormick  and  Hoover  were  studying  them.  It  cost  a 
great  deal  of  money  to  provide  school  buildings  and  teachers 
for  them  all.  Few  of  these  schoolboys  became  famous,  yet  it 
paid  to  give  each  one  the  best  possible  training.  The  services 
which  men  like  Hoover  and  McCormick  have  rendered  to 
the  world  have  paid,  many  times  over,  for  every  dollar  spent 
on  the  schools. 


Our  Schools  help  build  Bridges  and  Railways 

17.  For  every  large  bridge,  building,  railroad,  and  dam 
that  we  make,  scores  and  hundreds  of  young  men  have  had 
to  spend  months  with  pencil  and  paper  figuring,  figuring, 
figuring.  Without  the  schools  behind  them  the  bridge,  the 
railroad,  the  dam  would  be  impossible.  Most  of  the  two 
thousand  men  who  did  the  planning  and  other  skilled 
work  on  the  great  Roosevelt  Dam  in  Arizona  (which  stores 
up  water  by  which  miles  of  desert  are  being  transformed 
into  gardens  and  orchards)  were  school-trained.  The  hun- 
dreds of  young  civil  and  electrical  engineers  that  the 
United  States  sent  to  France  in  1917,  to  build  railroads 


WHY  WE  HAVE  SCHOOLS 


103 


and  power  stations  in  the  section  which  the  Germans  had 
devastated,  had  all  spent  at  least  fifteen  years  in  schools 
of  some  kind. 

18.  On  September  16,  1917,  a  hundred  reporters  from  the 
large  newspapers  in  Canada  and  the  United  States  were  sent 
to  Quebec.  Before  daylight  the  next  morning  these  men 
had  left  their  hotels  and  stood  waiting  with  thousands  of 
others  on  the  bank  of  the  St.  Lawrence  Eiver.  All  eyes 
were  turned  toward  sixty-five  thousand  tons  of  iron  that 


Without  the  Schools  the  Great  Bridges  would  not  be  Built 


had  been  wrought  into  a  huge  span  to  form  the  center  of  a 
monster  bridge  which  was  to  cross  the  St.  Lawrence  River. 
This  lay  on  six  heavy  steel  scows.  At  a  given  signal  huge 
machines  slowly  started  to  raise  this  mass  of  iron.  At  twelve 
o'clock  the  reporters  telegraphed  their  papers  that  it  had 
been  moved  eight  feet.  When  night  fell,  the  iron  still  hung 
in  mid-air.  Not  until  noon  of  the  next  day  was  the  news 
flashed  over  the  wires  that  the  span  was  finally  in  place. 
Hundreds  ^)f  men  in  both  the  United  States  and  Canada  had 
worked  for  years  on  this  bridge,  which  is  one  of  the  largest 
in  the  world. 


104  MY  COUNTRY 

19.  One  of  the  men  who  helped  build  the  bridge  had 
spent  nineteen  years  in  school  in  the  United  States  —  seven 
years  in  grammar  school,  four  years  in  high  school,  four 
years  in  college,  four  years  in  the  Massachusetts  Institute 
of  Technology.  He  was  paid  a  salary  of  eight  thousand  dollars 
a  year,  although  he  was  still  a  young  man.  When  someone 
asked  him  what  studies  had  most  helped  him  to  gain  success 
he  said :  "  In  my  position  I  must  be  able  to  figure  speedily 
and  with  absolute  accuracy.  Not  a  minute  that  I  ever  spent 
over  arithmetic,  algebra,  and  geometry  was  wasted.  Why, 
see  here,"  and  he  pointed  to  a  pile  of  sheets  of  paper  as 
thick  as  a  Webster's  Unabridged  Dictionary,  "one  single 
example  covers  twenty-five  sheets  and  probably  has  about 
fifty  thousand  figures.  This  whole  pile  represents  only  one 
truss  of  the  bridge.  Any  boy  who  wants  to  build  with  his 
hands  or  plan  buildings  of  any  kind  must  keep  at  his  figures." 

Our  public  schools  offer  to  every  boy  the  same  start  that 
this  young  man  had. 


Useful  Citizens  more  Necessary  than  Famous  Men 
and  Women 

20.  The  world  needs  few  famous  men,  but  it  must  have 
millions  of  useful  citizens.    The  woman  who  can  keep  house 
without  wastefulness   and    can    make  a  home  happy  and 
efficient,  the  man  who  can  make  his  soil  yield  the  largest 
possible  crops  —  such   men  and  women  are    the    ones  on 
whom  the  prosperity  of  the  nation  depends. 

21.  All  that  the  nation  asks  of  its  school  pupils  is  that 
each  train  himself  to  do  his  best.    The  "best"  of  one  boy 
will  be  to  become  a  skilled  locomotive  engineer,  who  with 


WHY  WE  HAVE  SCHOOLS 


105 


clear  brain  and  steady  hand  will  guide  long  trains  of  pre- 
cious freight  through  wind  and  rain  and  sleet,  never  falter- 
ing, never  shirking.  Another  boy's  "best"  will  be  to  learn 
to  use  carpenter's  tools  and  to  build  houses  that  are  as 
stanch  as  faithful  work  can  make  them.  The  "best"  of 


Copr.  Publishers'  Photo  hervice 

The  "Best "  of  One  Boy  will  be  to  become  a  Skilled  Engineer 

one  girl  may  be  to  send  messages  swiftly  and  accurately 
over  the  telegraph  wires ;  another  girl  will  do  her  "  best " 
by  cheerfully  selling  thread  at  a  counter.  The  motto  that 
might  well  be  written  over  the  door  of  every  schoolroom 
in  the  land  is,  "Prepare  here  to  do  your  best,  however 
humble  that  may  be." 

22.  It  is  no  wonder,  then,  that  even  the  smallest  town  in 
Arizona  says, "  We  will  give  all  of  our  three  hundred  children 


106  MY  COUNTRY 

the  same  teachers,  the  same  books,  the  same  chance."  The 
great  city  of  New  York  says,  "We  will  give  our  eight  hun- 
dred thousand  children  —  no  matter  in  what  part  of  the 
city  they  live,  no  matter  how  rich  or  how  poor  they  are,  no 
matter  who  their  fathers  and  mothers  are  —  the  same  large 
school  buildings,  the  same  teachers,  the  same  books,  the 
same  chance." 

Our  Schools  are  Compulsory 

23.  Not  only  are  the  public  schools  in  every  town  and 
city  free  to  all  children  but  parents  are  obliged  to  send 
their  children  to  school.  The  reason  for  this  is  to  give 
everybody  the  same  chance  to  succeed.  Some  fathers  might 
think  they  were  too  poor  to  send  their  children  to  school. 
Others  might  think  that  because  they  had  wealth  their  chil- 
dren would  not  need  to  learn  arithmetic  and  history.  But 
the  people  who  make  the  laws  know  that  neither  ignorant 
poor  boys  nor  ignorant  rich  boys  ever  become  useful  or  suc- 
cessful. Most  of  the  states  now  have  laws  requiring  parents 
to  send  their  children  to  either  public  or  private  schools  or 
to  teach  them  at  home.  In  one  state  a  fine  of  fifty  dollars 
and  thirty  days  in  jail  is  the  penalty  for  disobeying  this  law. 

QUESTIONS  AND  PROBLEMS 

1.  Not  all  ten-year-old  boys  are  worth  $2000.   It  is  only  the 
average  boy.    This  means  that  some  boys  are  worth  more  than 
$2000,  some  less.   Describe  an  eighth-grade  boy  or  girl  who, 
you  think,  is  worth  only  $500  and  one  that  is  worth  $3000. 

2.  If  the  average  ten-year-old  boy  is  worth  $2000,  and  the 
average  twenty-year-old  young  man  is  worth  $4000,  about  how 
much  is  the  average  fifteen-year-old  boy  worth  ? 


WHY  WE  HAVE  SCHOOLS  10T 

3.  The  example  which  Mr.  Farr  worked  out  applied  only  to 
boys.    But  in  a  country  like  the* United  States,  England,  or 
France  girls  have  the  same  value  as  boys  if  they  have  the  same 
training.   Suppose  that  from  the  grammar  school  a  girl  goes  to 
the  high  school,  and  from  the  high  school  to  a  hospital  to  learn 
nursing.   At  twenty -four  she  is  a  trained  nurse  capable  of  earn- 
ing $25  a  week.    She  is  a  useful  citizen  because  she  not  only 
can  support  herself  but  can  lessen  some  of  the  suffering  in  the 
world  and  perhaps  save  many  lives.   Suppose  that  another  girl 
goes  to  the  same  grammar  school  and  graduates  from  the  same 
high  school.    Her  father  is  wealthy,  so  she  spends  her  time 
going  to  the  theater,  making  calls,  buying  and  planning  clothes. 
She  cannot  cook  or  sew  or  run  a  typewriter  or  do  any  useful 
thing.   She  is  valueless  so  far  as  the  world's  work  is  concerned. 
How  much  do  you  think  the  two  girls  were  worth  at  ten  years 
of  age?   Why? 

4.  If  girls  want  to  be  as  valuable  to  the  nation  as  boys, 
what  must  they  do  ?    How  do  the  schools  help  them  ? 

5.  Explain  how  boys  and  girls  have  a  present  value  and 
a  future  value.    6.  What  is  education  ? 

7.  South  Africa  has  the  richest  diamond  mines  in  the  world. 
The  United  States  has  not  a  single  diamond  mine,  yet  it  is 
a  wealthier  country  than  South  Africa.    Why  ? 

8.  What   is  the  greatest  wealth  of  the  United  States  ? 
Explain  your  answer. 

9.  How  can  a  boy  or  a  girl  get  trained  brains  and  hands  ? 
10.  (1)  Consult  a  life  of  one  of  these  men — George  Wash- 
ington, Benjamin  Franklin,  Horace  G-reeley  —  and  find  out 
what  books  they  studied.    (2)  Do  you  think  it  would  have 
been  easier  to  study  books  like  these  alone  or  in  school  with 
a  teacher  and  classmates  ?   Why  ?   (3)  How  can  a  teacher  or 
a  classmate  help  you  study  arithmetic  ?    history  ?    English 
composition  ?    French  ? 


108  MY  COUNTRY 

11.  How  did  George  Washington's  schooling  help  him  to 
succeed  ?   Ask  your  father  or  some  other  man  how  his  educa- 
tion has  helped  him. 

12.  Who  are  the  three  men  and  three  women  that  you  most 
admire  ?    Find  out    (1)  how  long  each  one  went  to  school ; 
(2)  how  much  studying  each  had  to  do  by  himself  or  herself. 

13.  The  persons  who  have  mastered  the  English  language 
write  so  clearly  and  simply  that  all  can  understand  their  mean- 
ing.   One  of  the  most  perfect  English  compositions  ever  written 
is  given  below.    Learn  this  so  that  you  can  recite  it.   Have  you 
mastered  the  power  to  think  and  the  ability  to  write  so  that 
you  could  write  such  a  composition  ? 

LINCOLN'S  GETTYSBURG  ADDRESS 

(DELIVERED  AT  THE  DEDICATION  OF  THE  NATIONAL  CEMETERY 
NOVEMBER  19,  1863) 

Fourscore  and  seven  years  ago  our  fathers  brought  forth 
on  this  continent  a  new  nation,  conceived  in  liberty,  and  dedi- 
cated to  the  proposition  that  all  men  are  created  equal. 

Now  we  are  engaged  in  a  great  civil  war,  testing  whether 
that  nation,  or  any  nation  so  conceived  and  so  dedicated,  can 
long  endure.  We  are  met  on  a  great  battlefield  of  that  war. 
We  have  come  to  dedicate  a  portion  of  that  field  as  a  final  rest- 
ing place  for  those  who  here  gave  their  lives  that  that  nation 
might  live.  It  is  altogether  fitting  and  proper  that  we  should 
do  this. 

But,  in  a  larger  sense,  we  cannot  dedicate  —  we  cannot 
consecrate  —  we  cannot  hallow —  this  ground.  The  brave  men, 
living  and  dead,  who  struggled  here  have  consecrated  it  far  above 
our  poor  power  to  add  or  detract.  The  world  will  little  note 
nor  long  remember  what  we  say  here,  but  it  can  never  forget 
what  they  did  here.  It  is  for  us,  the  living,  rather,  to  be  dedi- 
cated here  to  the  unfinished  work  which  they  who  fought  here 


WHY  WE  HAVE  SCHOOLS  109 

have  thus  far  so  nobly  advanced.  It  is  rather  for  us  to  be  here 
dedicated  to  the  great  task  remaining  before  us  —  that  from 
these  honored  dead  we  take  increased  devotion  to  that  cause 
for  which  they  gave  the  last  full  measure  of  devotion ;  that 
we  here  highly  resolve  that  these  dead  shall  not  have  died  in 
vain  ;  that  this  nation,  under  God,  shall  have  a  new  birth  of 
freedom ;  and  that  government  of  the  people,  by  the  people, 
for  the  people,  shall  not  perish  from  the  earth. 

1.4.  Make  and  bring  to  class  a  list  of  your  weak  points  in 
oral  and  written  composition.  Against  each  one  write  what  you 
should  do  to  overcome  these  weaknesses.  Here  are  the  failings 
of  one  eighth-grade  pupil : 

1.  Misspells  many  common  words. 

2.  Uses  too  few  different  words. 

3.  Often  does  not  make  the  thought  clear. 

4.  Has  too  few  ideas. 

15.  On  a  farm  in  Wisconsin  there  were  two  boys  and  one 
girl.    The  father  was  dead.    The  mother  wanted  all  the  chil- 
dren to  have  a  high-school  education,  but  this  was  impossible, 
for  they  were  poor.    So  she  told  them  that  they  must  decide 
which  one  should  be  sent  away  to  school.    The  girl  who  was 
twelve  and  the  boy  who  was  ten  decided  that  the  brother  who 
was  fourteen  should  be  the  one  to  have  the  chance. 

(1)  Study  the  picture  on  page  95  and  write  a  short  compo- 
sition called  w  Sacrifice " ;  or  (2)  write  a  short  story  telling  how, 
when  the  fourteen-year-old  boy  became  a  man,  he  repaid  his 
younger  brother  and  sister  for  the  chance  that  they  gave  him. 

16.  The  newsboys  of  a  large  city  have  formed  a  club  and 
have  a  clubhouse  of  their  own.    Every  year  they  send  one  of 
their  members  to  college  and  pay  all  his  expenses.    (1)  Why 
do  you  suppose  that  boys  who  stand  on  street  corners  sell- 
ing papers  from  morning  until  night  in  all  kinds  of  weather 


110  MY  COUNTRY 

want  to  help  pay  for  a  college  education  for  some  other  boy? 
(2)  Imagine  that  you  are  a  newsboy  at  one  of  the  entrances  of 
the  New  York  Subway.  You  sell  papers  to  bankers,  brokers, 
clerks,  bookkeepers,  stenographers,  as  they  hurry  home  from 
work.  Some  of  the  men  you  admire  and  envy.  Others  you  do 
not.  Write  an  imaginary  description  of  some  of  the  men  that 
you  admire,  and  explain  why  you  respect  and  like  them. 

17.  Explain  how  a  boy  could  spend  nineteen  profitable  years 
in  school. 

18.  What  occupation  do  you  expect  to  engage  in  ?    Find  out 
what  studies  will  help  you  prepare  for  it,  and  how  many  years 
this  preparation  will  take. 

19.  Why  do  we  not  send  only  the  brightest  children  to 
school  ? 

20.  Most  states  have  what  is  called  a  compulsory  school- 
attendance   law.    What  does   this   mean?    21.  What  is  the 
school  law  of  your  state  ? 

22.  What  happens  in  your  town  if  parents  fail  to  send  their 
children  to  school  ? 


CHAPTER  VIII 

MAKING  THE  UNITED  STATES  SAFE  FOR 
CHILDREN 

A  City's  Streets  without  Children 

1.  One  day  a  stranger  in  an  Eastern  city  was  oppressed 
by  the  strange  silence  of  its  streets.    There  was  the  usual 
rumble  of  cars  and  mills,  but  something  was  wrong.    Then 
he  began  to  notice  that  while  he  passed  little  tots  and 
babies  in  mothers'  arms,  he  had  seen  no  other  boys  and  girls. 
Did  the  city  have  no  children  ?    It  was  Saturday,  and  the 
yards  should  have  been  full  of  romping,  shouting  boys  and 
girls.    Finally  he  stopped  a  bent  old  woman  and  asked  her 
where  the  children  were.   The  woman  shook  her  head  and 
pointed  to  a  great  mill  near  by  —  and  then  the  stranger 
knew.    Ten-year-old  boys  and  girls  were  standing  by  huge, 
swiftly  moving  looms,  helping   to  make    cotton  cloth  for 
other  boys  and  girls  in  other  towns  and  cities  to  wear. 

The  Children  of  the  Mills 

2.  The  man  waited  until  the  whistles  blew.    He  stood  by 
the  great  gate  as  men,  women,  and  children  —  hundreds 
of  them  —  came  wearily  out  of  the  mill.    He  tried  to  talk 
with  some  of  the  children.    One  little  girl,  who  was  not 
quite  eleven,  told  with  pitiful  pride  that  she  had  "worked 
two  years  and  never  missed  a  day." 

ill 


112  MY  COUNTBY 

3.  In  Philadelphia,  many  years  ago,  during  a  strike  the 
factory  workers  paraded  the  streets.  Hundreds  of  men  and 
women  tramped  shoulder  to  shoulder  bearing  huge  banners. 
The  onlookers  watched  in  silence  until  a  special  group  of 
the  strikers  came  in  sight.  Business  men  rubbed  their  eyes, 
wTornen  shoppers  gasped,  for  there  in  the  great  city  of 
William  Penn  and  Benjamin  Franklin  were  mere  children, 
boys  and  girls,  who  should  have  been  at  home  or  in  school, 
marching  side  by  side  and  carrying  banners  which  read: 


WE  WANT  TO  GO  TO  SCHOOL 


Most  of  the  people  of  Philadelphia  never  dreamed  that 
children  were  wasting  their  childhood  and  health  in  the 
mills  of  their  city.  Children  were  supposed  to  go  to  school. 
What  were  they  doing  in  the  mills  ? 

4.  Investigations  were  made  in  Philadelphia  and  in  other 
mill  cities,  and  the  people  learned  to  their  amazement  that 
thousands  of  the  country's  mill  workers  were  children.    In 
some  cases  boys  of  school  age  were  even  working  in  mills 
all  night.    In  the  coal-mining  section  children  were  found 
who  had  never  been  inside  a  school  and  were  working  ten 
hours  a  day  to  earn  fifty  or  sixty  cents.    Somebody  asked 
one  of  the  breaker  boys  if  he  knew  about  God.   "  God  ?  "   he 
said.  "  God  ?  No,  I  don't.   He  must  work  in  some  other  mine." 

5.  At  one  time  the  cigar  factories  of  two  of  the  Eastern 
states  were  nicknamed  "kindergartens"  because  they  em- 
ployed so  many  little  children.  Even  in  New  York  State,  the 
state  in  which  the  Statue  of  Liberty  holds  aloft  its  great  torch 
of  welcome,  children  of  seven  and  eight  years  were  found 


SAFETY  FOR  CHILDREN  113 

working  at  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  in  vegetable-canning 
factories.  One  little  fellow  in  a  carpet  factory  was  so  satu- 
rated with  dye  that  his  stomach  and  chest  were  stained  a  deep, 
rich  crimson,  which  soap  and  water  would  not  wash  away. 

The  Declaration  of  Independence  and  Children  in  the  Mills 

6.  The  manager  of  a  cotton  mill  even  dared  to  insult  the 
Stars  and  Stripes  by  posting  this  notice : 

All  parents  employed  in  this  mill  who  have  children  twelve 
years  old  and  over  shall  require  them  to  work  regularly  in 
this  mill.  Children  shall  not  be  excused  from  service  therein 
without  the  consent  of  the  superintendent  for  good  cause. 

This  notice  meant  that  the  men  and  women  who  worked  in 
that  factory  could  not  send  their  children  to  a  trade  school 
or  a  high  school,  and  could  not  let  them  stay  at  home 
to  read  and  play.  They  must  send  them  to  the  factory  to 
work  ten  hours  a  day.  This  was  making  industrial  slaves  of 
both  children  and  parents.  But  the  people  were  poor,  and 
many  of  them  were  ignorant,  so  they  brought  their  children 
to  the  mill. 

7.  One  day  a  man  from  the  Department  of  Education 
at  Washington  visited  this  town.    He  watched  the  people 
pour  out  of  the  mill  at  night.    He  saw  some  of  the  twelve- 
year-old  girls  curl  up  on  the  grass  near  the  factory,  too 
tired  even  to  crawl  home  to  bed.    He  saw  a  thirteen-year-old 
boy  with  dazed  eyes  walk  in  front  of  a  swiftly  moving  auto- 
mobile.   With    others  he  followed  to   the   hospital   where 
they  carried  the  boy.    In  answer  to  the  nurse's  question 
whether  he   did  not  see  the  automobile,  the  little  fellow 
said,  "  I  guess  I  must  have  been  asleep."    It  was  true.    The 


114 


MY  COUNTRY 


boy  was  so  frail  that  the  long  hours  in  the  deadly  noise 
and  heat  of  the  mill  had  stupefied  hoth  brain  and  body. 

8.  The  man  from  Wash- 
ington went  to  his  hotel 
and  wrote  these  words  in 
big,  bold  letters: 

We  hold  these  truths 
to  be  self-evident :  — That 
all  men  are  created  equal ; 
that  they  are  endowed  by 
their  Creator  with  certain 
unalienable  rights;  that 
among  these  are  life,  lib- 
erty, and  the  pursuit  of 
happiness. 

The  next  day  he  went  to 
the  manager,  pointed  to 
the  large  placard  requir- 
ing parents  to  bring  their 
children  to  the  factory  to 
work,  then  handed  him  the 
sheet  of  paper  on  which 
he  had  written  the  words 
above.  The  manager  in  a 
rude  and  sneering  voice 
said :  "  I  suppose  you  are  a 
clergyman  and  this  is  the 
kind  of  stuff  you  preach. 
But  it  won't  go  here." 
9.  "This  stuff,  as  you  call  it,"  replied  the  stranger, "is  a  part 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  In  this  very  state  men 


Carrying  Home  the  Day's  Work 
He  ought  to  be  in  school 


SAFETY  FOR  CHILDREN  115 

have  fought  and  died  to  give  to  the  men,  women,  and  children 
life,  liberty,  and  happiness.  The  nation  has  been  slow  to  learn 
about  men  like  you,  but  you  cannot  longer  deprive  the  chil- 
dren of  the  poor  of  the  same  opportunity  to  go  to  school,  to  play 
games,  to  build  up  healthy  bodies,  that  your  children  have." 

10.  The  notice  no  longer  hangs  on   the   walls   of  this 
factory.     There  is  now  in  the  town  a  trade  school  which 
teaches     carpentry,    wood-turning,     metal-working,    dress- 
making, and  millinery.    The  children  no  longer  work  in  the 
mill.    They  are  at  last  having  the  same  chance  that  the  boys 
and  girls  in  every  town  and  state  are  supposed  to  have  to 
"  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness." 

An  Army  of  Children  Workers 

11.  If  we  read  that  such  things  occurred  in  China  or 
Russia  or  some  other  far-away  country  which  had  never  had 
a  George  Washington  or  an  Abraham  Lincoln,  we  should 
not  think  it  strange.    We  should  pity  the  people  who  lived 
in  those  countries.    But  to  know  that  these  things  were 
taking  place  in  the  United  States,  the  home  of  liberty,  made 
the  patriotic  men  and  women  blush  for  shame.   According 
to  the  latest  census  there  were  over  seven  hundred  thou- 
sand children  under  sixteen  years  of  age  working  in  the 
mines,  mills,  factories,  and  sweatshops  of  the  United  States. 

Why  Some  Mills  employ  Children 

12.  We  have  already  learned  that  there  are  more  school- 
houses  in  the  United  States  than  in  any  other  country  of 
the  world  and  that  all  parents,  rich  and  poor,  are  supposed 
to  send  their  children  to  school.    Then  how  did  it  happen 


116 


MY  COUNTRY 


that  seven  hundred  thousand  children  of  school  age  were  not 
in  school  ?  There  are,  unfortunately,  many  men  in  the  United 
States  who  are  not  true  Americans.  Often  they  are  only 

thoughtless  or  ignorant, 
but  sometimes  they  are 
wholly  selfish.  Some  of 
these  men  own  factories 
or  stores  in  which  hun- 
dreds of  workers  are 
required.  Since  children 
are  usually  eager  to  earn 
money  and  will  work  for 
small  wages,  these  em- 
ployers have  sometimes 
hired  boys  and  girls  who 
should  have  been  in  school 

Why  Some  Parents  let 

their  Children  work  in 

the  Mills 

13.  But  even  if  there 
are  some  men  unpatriotic 
enough  to  hire  children 
for  factory  work,  why  do 
fathers  and  mothers  let 
their  children  spend  the 
best  years  of  their  lives 
in  the  mills? 

14.  Many  of  the  fathers  and  mothers  of  factory  children 
are  ignorant  and  very  poor.  Some  of  them  have  come  from 
countries  across  the  water.  They  do  not  know  our  laws  and 


Long  Hours  in  the  Cotton  Factory  will 
not  make  Strong  Bodies 


SAFETY  FOE  CHILDBEN  117 

cannot  speak  our  language.  One  boy,  who  came  with  his 
parents  from  Armenia,  worked  in  a  New  England  cotton 
mill  for  six  years  before  he  even  heard  that  there  were  free 
public  schools  in  this  country.  These  poor  people  ruin  the 
health  and  the  chances  of  their  children  through  ignorance. 
Many  of  them  do  not  know  that  education  is  for  poor  and 
rich  alike.  When  a  fourteen-year-old  mill  boy  asked  his  father 
if  he  might  go  to  school,  the  man  answered :  "  Go  to  school ! 
What  are  you  bothering  me  about  school  for  ?  Education 's 
only  for  them  that  are  learning  to  be  gentlemen.  You  're  a 
poor  lad,  and  must  be  thinking  more  about  getting  to  work." 

15.  It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  many  foreigners 
think  schooling  is  not  for  their  children.    In  some  of  the 
countries  from  which  our  immigrants  come  only  the  children 
of  the  rich  are  educated.    The  father  who  said  that  education 
is  only  for  those  that  are  learning  to  be  gentlemen  told  only 
half  the  truth.    Education  is  for  those  who  want  to  become 
gentlemen,  but  in  America  the  poorest  man  is  the  same 
kind  of  gentleman  that  the  richest  man  is,  if  he  has  had 
the  same  education. 

Congress  and  Children  Workers 

16.  It  is  part  of  the  business  of  the  Congress  at  Washing- 
ton to  see  that  all  the  states  are  treated  alike.    When  the 
Congressmen  realized  that  one  state  sent  all  its  children  to 
school,  while  another  state  sent  only  the  children  of  prosper- 
ous families,  they  said,  "  We  must  change  this."    They  began 
to  ask  what  the  matter  was,  and  found  that  the  states  which 
allowed  little  children  to  work  in  mills  had  the  fewest  children 
in  school.  They  found  that  ignorant  fathers  and  mothers 


118 


MY  COUNTRY 


sent  their  children  to  the  mill  instead  of  to  school.  They 
decided  that  the  nation  ought  to  have  a  law  like  this: 

No  child  under  sixteen  can  legally  be  employed  in  any  mine 
or  quarry  at  any  time ;  no  child  under  fourteen  can  legally  be 
employed  at  any  time  and  no  child  under  sixteen  more  than 

eight  hours  in  any  work- 
day, more  than  six  days  in 
any  week,  or  be  fore  six  A.M. 
or  after  seven  P.M.  in  any 
mill,  cannery,  workshop, 
factory,  or  manufacturing 
establishment. 

Two  Reasons  why  Chil- 
dren should  not  work  in 
the  Mills 

17.  There  are  two  rea- 
sons why  the  United 
States  should  make  it 
unlawful  for  any  factory 
to  hire  children  under 
fourteen.  One,  which  we 
have  already  mentioned, 
is  that  the  people  in  Amer- 
ica want  the  poor  man's 
children  to  have  the  same 

chance  to  get  an  education  that  the  rich  man's  children  have. 
America  wants  the  son  of  a  mill  worker  to  learn  the  same  lessons 
in  school  that  the  son  of  a  mill  owner  learns.  Then  both  boys 
can  make  their  way  in  the  world,  for  money  cannot  buy  brains. 
The  rich  boy  can  get  trained  brains  only  in  the  same  way 
that  the  poor  boy  gets  them  —  by  spending  years  in  study. 


Girls  of  this  Age  ought  to  be  in  High 
School  or  in  a  Vocational  School 


SAFETY  FOR,  CHILDREN  119 

18.  But  there  is  another  reason.  The  body  of  a  boy  or  a 
girl  is  not  strong  like  that  of  a  man  or  woman.  The  bones 
and  muscles  are  still  growing,  and  so  are  the  lungs  and 
heart  and  other  organs.  If  a  man  works  hard  nine  hours  a 
day,  at  night  he  is  tired,  but  with  rest  and  sleep  he  will  be 
in  good  condition  the  next  day.  But  if  young  boys  and  girls 


The  Kind  of  Work  that  helps  the  Body 

do  the  same  kind  of  hard  work  nine  hours  a  day,  their 
bodies  will  suffer.  Young  bodies,  like  young  plants,  need  to 
be  protected.  They  need  play,  plenty  of  fresh  air,  and  rest. 
If  children  are  overworked  and  are  not  well  fed,  they  be- 
come sickly,  ailing  men  and  women.  There  is  altogether  too 
much  sickness  in  the  world  now.  Sickly  men  cannot  defend 
their  country  in  time  of  war,  neither  are  they  likely  to 
become  good  business  men  or  good  workers  of  any  kind  in 
times  of  peace. 


120  MY  COUNTRY 

19.  One  poor  man  objected  to  taking  his  three  children 
out  of  the  factory.    He  said  he  wanted  them  to  work  there 
until  they  could  save  enough  money  to  go  to  school.    The 
school  superintendent  explained  that  it  would  probably  be 
too  late  then.    They  would  find  they  could  not  learn  their 
lessons.    If  a  growing  boy's  heart  has  been  overworked  dur- 
ing long  years  in  the  mill,  it  will  not  supply  the  necessary 
amount  of  blood  to  the  brain.    No  one  can  study  well  if  the 
blood  is  thin  and  watery  from  lack  of  right  food,  or  if  the  heart 
is  too  weak  to  pump  a  full  supply  of  blood  to  the  brain. 

20.  There  are,  however,  many  wholesome  kinds  of  work 
that  young  people  can  do  before  and  after  school,  on  Satur- 
days, and  during  the  long  summer  vacations.     Any   work 
that  can  be  done  out  of  doors  or  in  a  light,  sunny  room 
will  not  injure  a  healthy  boy  or  girl  if  the  hours  are  not 
too  long  and  if  the  body  is  not  put  under  a  heavy  strain. 

Schooling  Pays 

21.  The  United  States,  by  trying  to  keep  children  out  of 
mills  until   they  are  fourteen,  is    helping  them  build  up 
strong  bodies.    Parents,  by  keeping  their  children  in  school, 
are  helping  make  them  successful  wage-earners  in  later  years. 
The  poor  man  who  grumbles  at  having  to  send  his  children 
to  school  probably  does  not  know  that  every  year  they  stay 
in  school  will  add  dollars  to  their  pockets  in  the  future. 
Schooling  pays.    Here  is  the  proof: 

Every  day  spent  in  school  pays  the  child  nine  dollars. 

Uneducated  laborers  earn  on  the  average  $500  per  year  for 
forty  years,  a  total  of  $20,000. 

High-school  graduates  earn  on  the  average  $1000  per  year 
for  forty  years,  a  total  of  $40,000. 


SAFETY  FOB,  CHILDREN  121 

This  education  required  12  years  of  schooling  of  180  days 
each,  a  total  of  2160  days  in  school. 

If  2160  days  at  school  add  $20,000  to  the  income  for  life, 
then  each  day  at  school  adds  $9.02. 

The  child  who  stays  out  of  school  to  earn  less  than  nine  dollars 
a  day  is  losing  money,  not  making  money. 


QUESTIONS  AND  PROBLEMS 

1.  Tell   about   an    Eastern    city    that   had   no    children 
playing  in  its  streets. 

2.  What  is  meant  by  children  of  the  mills  ?    3.  Why  were 
certain  factories  once  nicknamed  w  kindergartens "  ? 

4.  The  factory  superintendent  who  posted  a  notice  requiring 
parents  to  make  their  children  work  in  the  mill  had  no  right 
to  do  this.    Why,  then,  did  he  dare  to  ? 

5.  Write  a  short  composition  in  two  parts.    Let  the  title 
of  the  first  part  be  "One  Day  in  School"  and  that  of  the 
second  be  "One  Day  in  the  Mill."    For  the  first  part  write 
what  you  actually  did  in  school  and  on  the  playground  on  a 
certain  day.   For  the  second  part  imagine  what  it  would  be  to 
work  in  a  cotton  mill  from  seven  in  the  morning  till  five  at 
night.    Write  your  experience  for  such  an  imaginary  day. 

6.  Write  in  your  own  words  the  sentence  that  the  man 
from  Washington  showed  to  the  factory  superintendent. 

7.  When  was  the  Declaration  of  Independence  written? 
Why  was  it  written?    You  will  find  the  answers  to  these 
questions  in  your  history. 

8.  When  is  a  child  a  "slave"  ?      9.  How  many  children 
w  slaves  "  were  there  in  the  United  States  at  one  time  ? 

10.  Why  have  business  men  and  factory  owners  sometimes 
employed  young  children  as  workers  ? 


122  MY  COUNTRY 

11.  Why  do  parents  let  their  children  work  in  mills  ? 

12.  Explain  why  education  is  for  the  poor  as  well  as  for 
the  rich. 

13.  What  is  a  true  gentleman  ?     14.  Explain  how  a  gov- 
ernor and  a  factory  worker  may  be  exactly  the  same  kind  of 
gentleman. 

15.  Does  your  state  have  a  child-labor  law?  If  so,  what  is 
it  ?  If  you  cannot  find  this  out  in  any  other  way,  write  to 
your  senator  or  representative.  16.  What  kind  of  law  should 
Congress  pass  ? 

17.  Children  who  work  for  years  in  factories  are  seldom 
strong,  well  men  and  women.    Why  is  this  ? 

18.  Hard  work  in  itself  is  not  harmful.    Explain  the  dif- 
ference between  the  kind  of  work  that  helps  a  young  person 
grow  strong  and  the  kind  that  injures  the  body. 

19.  Explain  how  boys  and  girls  who  belong  to  potato  (or 
other  agricultural)  clubs  can  get  the  right  mixture  of  work 
and  play. 

20.  If  you   have   had  a  small  vegetable   garden  of  your 
own,  tell  (1)  how  many  hours  a  day  you  spent  on  it,  (2)  what 
play  or  recreation  you  had  each  day,  (3)  whether  you  gained 
in  health. 

21.  Prove  that  it  pays  even  poor  parents  to  keep  their 
children  in  school.    Be  prepared  to  go  to  the  board  and  prove 
this  by  an  example  in  arithmetic. 

22.  Make  a  list  of  the  different  industries  in  your  town  or 
city.    If  there  are  factories,  find  out  what  these  make  and  what 
kind  of  workers  they  need.     23.  Shall  you  go  into  a  factory 
when  you  have  finished  school  ?    If  so,  tell  what  your  first 
work  will  be  and  whether  there  is  a  chance  to  "  climb." 


CHAPTER  IX 
HOW  THINGS  COME  ABOUT 
Who  looks  out  for  the  Schools  ? 

1.  How  does  it  happen  that  on  the  first  or  second  Mon- 
day in  September,  when  millions  of  boys  and  girls  turn  their 
backs  on  vacation  and  start  for  school,  they  find  the  school 
doors  open,  a  teacher  in  each  room,  the  principal  in  his 
office,  piles  of  books  waiting  to  be  distributed,  clean  floors 
and  walls  ?  How  do  the  teachers  know  what  to  teach  or  the 
length  of  lessons  to  give  out  ?   Why  must  the  seventh-grade 
teacher  teach  arithmetic  whether  she  wants  to  or  not? 

2.  To  have  desks,  books,  and  teachers  ready  for  about 
twenty  million  boys  and  girls  early  in  September  each  year 
means  an  enormous  amount  of  work  for  somebody.    Who 
saw  to  it  that  the  winter's  coal  was  put  in  the  school  cellar 
before  cold  weather  came  ?  Who  decided  that  a  row  of  trees 
should  be  planted  back  of  the  schoolhouse  ? 

The  World  seems  Mysterious 

3.  When  you  stop  to  wonder  about  such  things  the  world 
seems  very  mysterious.    The  seven-o'clock  whistles  always 
blow  at  seven.    The  four-o'clock  mail  comes  in  every  week 
day.    Day  or  night  you  can  take  up  the  telephone  receiver 
and  a  voice  out  of  the  silence  will  speak  to  you.    On  any 
day  you  can  go  to  the  nearest  telegraph  station,  write  ten 
words  on  a  yellow  slip  of  paper,  and  in  a  few  hours  a  friend 

123 


MY  COUNTRY 

three  thousand  miles  away  will  read  those  ten  words  on 
another  slip  of  yellow  paper. 

4.  In  Washington's  time  there  were  few  schoolhouses, 
few  teachers,  few  books.  There  were  no  factories,  no  great 
stores,  no  automobiles,  no  express  trains,  no  fast  steamers. 


Who  looks  out  for  the  Schools  ? 

Washington  could  not  travel  much  faster  by  horse  than 
Moses  could  by  camel  several  thousand  years  before.  By 
what  magic  have  schoolhouses,  express  trains,  and  the  other 
thousands  of  luxuries  and  comforts  sprung  up  so  quickly? 

Wonderful  Things  do  not  "  Happen  " 

5.  All  these  conveniences  have  not  "  happened."  Only  in 
fairy  tales  do  wonderful  things  drop  down  from  the  sky  or 
spring  up  from  the  earth.  The  secret  of  these  mysteries 
lies  in  two  words  —  inventions  and  organizations. 


HOW  THINGS  COME  ABOUT  125 

How  our  Inventors  help  make  the  World  Wonderful 

6.  The  United  States  has  been  fortunate  in  its  inventors, 
Few  of  us  can  realize  how  much  we  owe  to  the  men  who, 
hi  quiet  attics  or  secluded  laboratories,  have  worked  for  days 
at  a  tune  without  food  or  sleep.    Often  for  years  they  have 
had  only  failure  to  spur  them  on  —  and  then  have  given 
us  the  electric  light,  the  telephone,  the  typewriter,  and  the 
thousands  of  other  devices  that  save  us  time  and  add  to, 
our  comfort  and  safety.    Hundreds  of  inventions  have  made 
it  possible  to  give  to  school  children  textbooks  that  are  works 
of  art.    But  inventions  alone  will  not  make  life  pleasanter 
for  us. 

Inventions  without  Organizations  are  Valueless 

7.  No  matter  how  wonderful  an  invention  is,  withgi$t>  a^ 
organization  to  help  manufacture  and  sell  it,  it  is  vajue.l£ss*. 
Alexander   Graham  Bell  discovered  that  the  humaji,  yoice. 
could  be  carried  over  a  wire.    This  was  one  of  the.  e^n^s,  of ; 
the  nineteenth  century,  but  no  one  would  have^  l:>enefited[ 
from  this  invention  if  a  group  of  men  had  not,  fproned  ant 
organization  to  promote  it.    Money  had  to  be  rais^di  to. ,  build1 
factories  to  make  the  delicate  telephone  instrumeiit^neces-. 
sary  for  sending  and  receiving  messages.    Worl^r^r^ad  to  be. 
trained.  Business  men  had  to  be  shown  the  value  >qf  [telephones , 
in  their  factories  and  offices.    All  this  could]  lqe<}pne  only- 
through  the  combined  work  of  many  people  — r_an  organization. 

8.  Whenever  a  special  thing  needs  to  be. done,  whether- 
it  is  making  thousands  of  shoes  in  a  factory,  or  cleaning  up, 
the  back  yards  of  a  town,  or  helping  buy  clothes.:  and  food! 
for  Belgian  orphans,  there  must  be  a  definite. plan  of  what:, 
to  do  and  how  to  do  it.    Then  there  must t  be  a,  group  oft 


126  MY  COUNTRY 

people  to  carry  out  the  plan.  This,  then,  is  organization  — 
a  definite  plan  of  something  to  be  done  plus  a  group  of 
people  to  carry  out  the  plan. 

9.  Most  of  the  comforts  and  luxuries  and  even  necessities 
that  surround  you  come  through  some  company  or  associ- 
ation, which  are  only  other  names  for  organization.    The 
only  reason  that  you  can  step  onto  a  train  in  New  York, 
eat  luxurious  meals,  read  in  comfort,  sleep  in  comfort,  and 
two  days  later  find  yourself  in  St.  Louis  is  because  the  rail- 
road is  an  efficient  organization.    Perhaps  a  railroad  employs 
fifty  thousand  men,  but  the  work  of  each  man  is  carefully 
planned  out.    Nothing  is  left  to  chance. 

Each  School  is  an  Organization 

10.  Organization  is  the  secret  of  our  schools  to-day.  As  in 
the  case  of  the  railroad,  nothing  is  left  to  chance.    Every 
town  has  a  school  board  or  school  committee.    One  of  the 
members  of  this  board  is  chairman,  or  leader,  and  calls  the 
others   together   to   make   necessary  plans.    It    is   usually 
the  work  of  this  board  to  see  that  teachers  are  hired,  that 
school  buildings  are  in  good  condition,  and   that   janitors 
understand  when  the  schools  are  to  be  opened.    They  plan 
how  to  spend  the  money  which  the  town  allots  them  for 
school  purposes.    The  exact  length  of  each  term  and  what 
new  books  to  buy  are  decided  before  the  schools  open.    In 
large  towns  and  cities  and  in  country  sections  where  people 
are  widely  scattered,  the  school  board  employs  a  superin- 
tendent to  do  much  of  the  work.   It  is  often  he  who  chooses 
the  teachers  and  plans  the  course  of  study.    Every  person 
connected  with  the  schools — from  the  janitor  to  the  members 
of  the  school  board  —  is  a  part  of  an  organization. 


HOW  THINGS  COME  ABOUT 


127 


The  Schools  are  Part  of  a  Larger  Organization 

11.  The  schools  are  only  one  organized  part  of  a  much 
larger  organization,  and  that  is  the  town  or  city  or  county. 
Did  you  know  that  even  if  you  tried  you  could  not  help 

being    a    part    of    an     

organization  ?  Every 
church,  factory,  store, 
and  shop  is  an  organ- 
ization. Even  if  you 
do  not  go  to  school 
and  do  not  work  with 
others,  you  are  a  part 
of  the  town  or  city  in 
which  you  live.  Every 
town,  county,  borough, 
parish,  and  city  is  an 
organization.  All  these 
are  parts  of  the  state, 
which  is  a  still  bigger 
organization.  The  better 

your   town   or   county        Repairers  of  Roadbeds  -  a  Part  of  a 
is  organized,  the  better  Railroad  Organization 

are  your  streets,  your 

schools,  your  homes,  and  the  safer  and  more  comfortable 
you  are  likely  to  be.  If  your  community  has  no  road 
commissioner  or  street  department,  the  automobiles  avoid 
your  section.  If  you  have  a  poorly  organized  board  of 
health,  the  best  families  will  wish  to  move  away.  A 
school  department  that  is  not  well  organized  will  hurt  any 
community. 


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128  MY  COUNTRY 

12.  A  town  or  city  that  is  well  organized  will  have 

A  school  department 
A  fire  department 
A  police  department 
A  board  of  health 
A  street  department 
A  board  of  charities 

and  probably  many  others,  although  these  names  may  not 
exactly  correspond  in  your  town  or  city.  Each  of  these  is  a 
separate  but  necessary  part  of  the  town  organization. 

Organizations  add  to  our  Comfort 

13.  Of  course  people  could  live  without  school  boards, 
electric-light  companies,  and  factories ;  in  other  words,  we 
could  live  without  organizations.    We  could  even  live  with- 
out streets  or  roads,  far  from  neighbors,  without  railroads 
and  post  offices.   But  who  would  want  to  ?  This  would  mean 
turning  the  clock  of  progress  back  hundreds  of  years.    The 
more  advanced   a   nation   or    a   community   is,   the   more 
thoroughly  it  is  organized.    Less  than  a  hundred  years  ago 
men  had  to  do  for  themselves  what  is  done  to-day  by  either 
the  town  or  some  other  organization.   The  following  is  part 
of  a  diary  kept  by  a  man  who  lived  in  Illinois  years  ago, 
before  many  of  our  most  helpful  inventions  had  been  made 
and  before  towns  were  as  well  organized  as  they 'are  to-day: 

September  28,  1838.  Hunted  deer.  . .  Worked  at  shoe- 
making.  . . .  Made  a  coffin  for  H.  Dougherty.  . . .  Plastered 
my  house.  .  .  .  Dressed  pig  and  calves  torn  by  the  wolves.  . .  . 
Dug  a  well.  . . .  Corn  half  destroyed  by  blackbirds.  . . .  Set 
out  shade  trees.  Read  Cowper.  . .  .  Took  up  a  bee  tree  to 


HOW  THINGS  COME  ABOUT  129 

hive   for   honey.  . . .    Hunted   deer.    Snow   a   foot   deep,  . . . 
Hunted  a  panther.    Went  to  a  bridge-raising. 

February  18,  1839.  Began  to  read  the  Western  Messenger. 
Made  a  back  kitchen.  .  . .  Hewed  timber  for  a  barn.  . . . 
Made  a  wagon.  . . .  Made  a  cheese-press.  . . .  Studied  alge- 
bra. . . .  Made  a  sundial.  . . .  Sat  on  a  jury.  . . .  Helped  to 
make  a  post  office. 


Bad  Roads  mean  a  Poorly  Organized  Town  or  County 

14.  Just  to  get  the  bare  necessities  of  life  took  most  of 
this  man's  time.  He  would  have  had  no  time  for  lectures, 
music,  theater,  vacation  trips,  even  if  these  pleasures  and 
recreations  had  been  possible.  The  great  difference  between 
to-day  and  fifty  or  seventy  years  ago  is  that,  because  of 
recent  inventions  and  better  organizations,  to  earn  a  living 
does  not  now  take  every  minute  of  a  person's  time.  Fac- 
tories make  shoes,  bridge  builders  build  bridges,  carpenters 
make  kitchens,  wagon  builders  make  wagons.  In  other 
words,  men's  time  and  labor  are  organized.  We  have  time 


130 


MY  COUNTRY 


to  hear  music,  to  visit  our  friends,  to  hunt  for  beautiful 
things,  to  travel  by  train  and  by  boat  to  distant  parts  of 
the  world. 

15.  Even  play  can  be  organized.  One  reason  why  base- 
ball and  football  are  favorite  games  with  every  real  boy  is 
because  they  are  organized  games.  The  players  do  not  run 


Copr.  Publishers'  Photo  Service 

Field  Hockey  —  an  Organized  Game 

around  aimlessly.  Each  boy  has  a  certain  thing  to  do  in 
a  certain  way  and  at  a  certain  moment.  Football,  basket 
ball,  hockey,  all  are  organized  games.  The  school  picnic 
that  brings  the  most  pleasure  to  the  largest  number  is  the 
one  that  is  carefully  planned  out.  There  is  a  committee 
to  decide  the  time  and  the  place,  another  to  see  about 
lunches,  another  about  games,  and  so  on.  This  means  hard 
work  for  certain  persons  but  a  great  deal  of  pleasure  for 
many  others. 


HOW  THINGS  COME  ABOUT  131 

The  Most  Important  Organization  of  All 

16.  The  most  important  organization  is  that  of  the  nation 
itself.    Probably  the  greatest  single  event  in  the  history  of 
the  United  States  was  the  organizing  of  the  thirteen  colonies 
into  a  nation.   In  1787  fifty-five  men  —  some  of  them  world- 
famous,  many  of  them  almost  unknown  then  and  forgotten 
to-day  —  gathered  in  Philadelphia  to  do  this  difficult  piece  of 
work.    It  is  a  simple  matter  for  a  small  group  of  pupils  to 
organize  a  garden  club  or  for  a  group  of  men  to  organize  a 
business,  but  to  organize  a  nation  was  a  stupendous  task. 
For  four  months  these  men  met  almost  daily,  talking,  argu- 
ing, planning.     What  kind  of  congress  should  they  have? 
How  much  power  should  the  president  have  ?    Should  he 
serve  as  long  as  he  lived  or  for  only  a  short  time?    These 
and  hundreds  of  other  questions  had  to  be  decided. 

17.  Sometimes  it  seemed  as  if  these  men  would  fail  in 
their  undertaking.     But  Washington,  Hamilton,  Franklin, 
Madison,  and  the  other  far-seeing  statesmen  knew  that  organi- 
zation meant  strength,  and  that  only  a  strong  nation  could 
live  through  the  struggles  that  it  must  meet.    At  last  their 
work  was  finished.    It  takes  only  about  ten  pages  of  print 
to  express  in  words  the  result  of  this  .famous  meeting,  but 
these  few  pages   are   to-day  the   chart  and  guide  of  over 
a  hundred  million  people.    We  call  the  chart  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States. 

18.  When,  every  four  years,  the  people  choose   a  new 
president,  when,  every  two  years,  they  send  representatives 
to  Washington,  when  the  president  appoints  a  justice  to  the 
Supreme  Court,  when  Congress  votes  a  war  tax,  they  are 
simply  carrying  out  the  plan  of  the  Constitution. 


132  MY  COUNTRY 

QUESTIONS  AND  PROBLEMS 

1.  How  many  of  the  questions  asked  in  the  first  two  para- 
graphs of  this  chapter  can  you  answer  ? 

2.  Compare  a  village  or  city  of  to-day  with  one  in  the  time  of 
Washington.  Take  your  own  town  if  possible.  Perhaps  someone 
has  written  the  history  of  it ;  see  if  there  is  such  a  book  in  your 
library.    3.  How  do  you  explain  the  differences  that  you  find  ? 

4.  Make  a  list  of  the  conveniences  and  luxuries  in  your 
home  —  such  as  electric  lights,  gaslights,  hot-water  tank,  set 
tubs,  aluminum  kettles  and  dishes,  egg  beater,  refrigerator, 
wire  screens,  spring  beds,  etc.  These  are  only  a  few  of  the 
inventions  that  have  been  made  in  recent  years.  5.  Choose 
one  of  these  conveniences  as  the  subject  of  a  composition. 
Find  out  all  that  you  can  about  it :  how  it  is  made,  who  in- 
vented it,  who  manufactured  it,  how  it  gets  from  the  factory 
to  you,  etc.  You  may  have  to  consult  several  people  to  get 
this  information  —  perhaps  your  electrician,  your  storekeeper, 
or  your  plumber. 

6.  Suppose  that  you  have  invented  a  new  kind  of  sewing 
machine.    What  must  be  done  in  order  to  get  your  invention 
into  thousands  of  homes  ? 

7.  Explain  as  fully  as  possible  the  meaning  of  the  words 
"  invention "  and  "  organization."    8.  Give  five  examples  of 
organizations. 

9.  Find  out  all  that  you  can  about  the  school  organization 
of  your  city  or  town.  Your  father  and  mother  can  give  you 
some  help,  but  perhaps  you  will  have  to  consult  your  town 
report  also.  You  will  want  to  find  answers  to  these  and  other 
related  questions.  Do  you  have  a  school  board  ?  a  superintend- 
ent ?  How  are  they  chosen  ?  What  are  their  duties  ?  How  long 
do  they  serve?  Who  appoints  the  school  principals?  Who 
hires  the  janitors  ?  Who  decides  what  you  shall  study  ? 


HOW  THINGS  COME  ABOUT  133 

10.  Of  what  larger  organization  is  your  local  school 
department  a  part?  11.  Tell  how  many  departments  or 
bureaus  or  boards  your  town  has  and  what  is  the  work  of 
each. 

12.  Explain  how  organizations  save  time  and  add  to  our 
pleasure.  13.  How  many  of  the  things  which  the  man  in  Illi- 
nois did  in  1838  and  1839  would  be  done  by  one  person  to-day  ? 
Keeping  this  man  in  mind,  tell  how  inventions  have  helped  us 
to  organize  our  towns  more  completely. 

14.  Can  you  explain  the  difference  between  play  that  is 
organized  and  play  that  is  not? 

15.  Do  you  belong  to  the  Boy  Scouts  or  the  Girl  Scouts,  or 
to  any  club  of  any  kind  ?  If  you  do,  describe  this  organization 
—  tell  what  the  purpose  of  it  is,  what  officers  it  has,  what 
work  these  have  to  do,  etc. 

16.  Consult  your  textbook  of  American  history  and  tell  how 
this  nation  was  organized. 

17.  The  states  are  separate  organized  parts  of  the  nation. 
Tell  about  the  state  organization  (see  Appendix,  p.  378). 

18.  One  kind  of  organization  that  we  hear  much  of  is  the 
political  party.    The  Eepublican,  the  Democratic,  and  all  other 
parties  are  merely  organizations  to  help  choose  our  president, 
governors,  and  representatives  of  various  kinds.    How  can  such 
an  organization  be  a  help  to  the  people  ? 

19.  It  has  been  proved  beyond  dispute  that  organization 
means  greater  comfort  and  greater  efficiency ;  but  evil  and  igno- 
rance can  also  be  organized.    Any  organization  that  oppresses 
or  injures  honest  men  cannot  long  exist  under  the  Stars  and 
Stripes.    Name  several  organizations,  for  example,  the  Brew- 
ers' Association,  that  do  not  have  in  them  the  spirit  of  liberty. 


CHAPTER  X 
EEPBESENTATIVE  GOVEKNMENT 

When  Boston  Schoolboys  sent  Representatives  to  a 
British  General 

1.  Before  the  Kevolutionary  War  a  regiment  of  British 
troops  was   quartered  in   Boston.     Some  of  these  soldiers 
greatly   angered  the  Boston  schoolboys  by  destroying  the 
snowslides  which  they  had  built  from  Beacon  Hill  to  the 
frog  pond  on  the  Common.  The  boys  would  rebuild  the  slides, 
but  the  next  day  would  find  them  destroyed  again.    This 
went  on  for  several  weeks.    Finally  they  called  a  meeting 
and  appointed  a  committee  to  go  to  General  Gage,  the  British 
commander  in  chief. 

"Did  your  fathers  send  you  here  ? "  asked  the  general, 
indignantly. 

"No,  sir,"  answered  the  tallest  boy.  "The  boys  sent  us  to 
demand  that  your  men  stop  destroying  our  snowslides.  They 
have  no  right  to  interfere  with  our  play." 

So  well  did  the  boy  argue  his  case  that  the  general  gave 
orders  that  the  snowslides  should  not  again  be  disturbed. 
The  boys  who  took  part  in  this  incident  of  more  than  one 
hundred  years  ago  did  not  know  that  they  were  showing 
how  the  American  nation  would  one  day  govern  itself. 

2.  Every  Boston  boy  who  played  on  the  Common  was 
indignant  and  wanted  to  go  to  General  Gage.    But  not  all 
the  boys  could  go,  and  if  they  had  gone,  not  all  of  them 

134 


REPRESENTATIVE  GOVERNMENT  135 

could  have  talked  to  the  general.  So  they  chose  a  committee 
to  represent  them.  This  committee  chose  the  tallest  boy  among 
them  to  represent  them  and  do  the  talking.  All  the  boys  were 
indignant.  All  of  them  wanted  to  appeal  to  the  general. 
They  all  did  appeal  to  the  general  through  a  committee. 

When  a  Schoolgirl  represented  Fifty  Thousand  Children 

3.  When  the  great  French  general,  Marshal  Joffre,  visited 
the  United  States  in  1917,  the  school  children  of  one  city 
presented   him  with  a  large  sum    of   money  to  be  spent 
for  the  French  orphans  whose  fathers  had  died  in  the  war. 
Thousands  of  pupils  gave  dimes  and  dollars,  but  not  all  of 
them  could  see  Joffre.    Even  if  all  the  children  could  have 
appeared  before  him,  there  would  not  have  been  time  for 
each  pupil  to  present  his  gift.    So  the  mayor's  daughter  was 
chosen  to  represent  them.    After  the  great  parade  this  ten- 
year-old  schoolgirl,  standing  on  a  raised  platform  in  a  park, 
made  a  short  speech  and  gave  the  money  to  Joffre.     The 
general  understood  that  the  girl  represented  all  the  pupils, 
even  those  who  had  contributed  only  five  cents. 

Different  Kinds  of  Representatives 

4.  When  a  large  number  of  people  want  a  thing  done, 
it  saves  time  and  trouble  to  have  one  or  two  persons  act 
for  all.    This  is  the  way  that  we  manage  our  schools,  our 
towns,  cities,  states,  and  even  the  nation. 

5.  All  nations  are  ruled  by  representatives.     The   only 
difference  is  that  in  some  countries,  as  in  the  United  States, 
the  representatives  represent  the  people,  and  in  others,  as  hi 
Germany,  they  represent  only  a  small  group  of  people. 


136  MY  COUNTRY 

6.  Because  the  American  people  choose  their  own  repre- 
sentatives, their  government  is  called  a  democracy,  which  is 
simply  a  short  way  of  saying  "rule  of  the  people"  (demo 
stands  for  "people"  and  cracy  for  "rule"). 

7.  The  people  who  are  governed  by  their  own  representa- 
tives are  happier  and  braver  than  those  who  are  governed 
by  the  representatives  of  a  king  or  emperor  or  a  small  group 
of  people.    Later  we  shall  see  why.    Now  we  shall  see  how 
the  different  states  govern  themselves. 

The  State  Capitols 

8.  There  are  forty-nine  capitols  in  the  United  States.   One 
of  these  is  the  national  capitol  at  Washington;   the  other 
forty-eight  are  state  capitols,  one  in  each  state.     Most  of 
these  are  magnificent  buildings  of  stone  or  marble,  which 
cost  a  great  deal  of  money.    In  the  state  capitols  the  gov- 
ernor and  principal  state  officials  have  offices.    These  offices 
are  used  all  the  time,  but  one  part  of  the  capitol  is  in  use 
only  on  certain  occasions.   This  part  is  the  most  important  of 
all.    It  consists  of  the  rooms  of  the  senate  and  the  house  of 
representatives.1    In  these  rooms  the  business  of  the  people 
is  attended  to. 

The  Business  of  the  People 

9.  At  certain  times  the   men  who  are  to  attend  to  the 
people's  business  come  to  the  capitol  from  every  part  of  the 
state.    For  several  weeks  and  sometimes  months  they  meet 

1  In  New  York  State  this  is  called  the  assembly.  In  several  states  it 
is  called  the  house  of  delegates.  For  convenience  we  shall  usually  refer 
to  it  as  the  house  of  representatives. 


137 


138  MY  COUNTBY 

in  these  special  rooms  of  the  capitoL  Perhaps  a  large  num- 
ber of  factory  workers  in  the  state  have  "been  on  a  strike, 
trying  to  get  shorter  hours  of  labor ;  perhaps  there  has  been 
an  epidemic  of  typhoid  fever  which  the  people  think  is  due 
to  poor  milk  laws.  Or  there  may  have  been  a  great  many 
forest  fires  started  by  sparks  from  steam  engines.  All  such 
matters  as  these  are  the  business  of  the  people.  It  is  these 
things  that  are  discussed  at  the  capitol. 

Who  attends  to  the  Business  of  the  People? 

10.  But  while  all  the  people  are  interested  in  these  things, 
they  cannot  all  go  to  the  capitol.    Most  men  are  too  busy 
with  their  work,  so  they  send  someone  to  represent  them, 
just  as  the  Boston  schoolboys  sent  a  representative  to  General 
Gage.    Some  of  the  men  who  are  sent  to  the  capitol  to  repre- 
sent the  hundreds  of  others  who  stay  at  home  are  called 
senators,  the  others  are  called  representatives.1    But  what- 
ever they  are  called,  each  one  represents  a  group  of  people 
in  some  part  of  the  state.    At  home  each  man  attends  to 
his  own  business ;  at  the  capitol  he  attends  to  the  people's 
business. 

Making  a  Law 

11.  The  senators  meet  in  one  room,  and  the  representatives 
in  another.    The  work  that  they  do  is  called  making  laws. 
Each  senator  and  representative  has  a  printed  list  of  the 
matters  that  are  to  be  discussed.    When  the  senators  finally 
decide  that  a  certain  law  should  be  passed,  they  refer  it  to 
the  representatives.    The  representatives  likewise  refer  all 

1  In  some  states  the  representatives  are  called  assemblymen  and  in 
others  delegates.   Here  we  shall  refer  to  them  as  representatives. 


KEPKESENTATIVE  GOVEENMENT  139 

their  decisions  to  the  senators.  Then  if  both  groups  of  men 
agree  that  a  law  should  be  passed,  it  is  sent  (in  all  but  two 
states)  to  the  governor  to  approve.  His  approval  is  the  final 
step  in  making  the  law. 

12.  One  year  in  Wisconsin  a  large  number  of  the  people 
thought  that  many  girls  and  women  wage-earners  were  not 
paid  enough.    Clerks  in  certain  stores  were  paid  only  five 
dollars  a  week,  and  in  many  factories  women  worked  nine 
hours  a  day  for  six  days  in  the  week  and  still  were  not 
receiving  a  living  wage.    So  when  the  senators  and  assembly- 
men met  at  the  capitol  one  of  the  questions  they  discussed 
was :  What  is  the  smallest  wage  that  a  woman  or  girl  ought 
to  get  for  satisfactory  work  ?    They  finally  decided  that  em- 
ployers should  be  required  to  pay  every  competent  woman 
worker  at  least  a  living  wage.    Every  decision  of  this  kind 
made   by  the  senators  and  representatives  of  a  state  and 
approved  by  the  governor  is  a  law. 

The  People  really  make  the  Laws 

13.  By  sending  representatives  to  the   capitol  to  make 
laws  for  them,  the  men  in  the  towns  and  cities  are  really 
making  the  laws  themselves.    Of  course  all  the  people  in 
one  town  do  not  agree  about  everything.    Perhaps  some  of 
them  want  an  electric  railway  to  be  run  through  their  town, 
while  others  are  anxious  that  the  railway  shall  not  come 
near  their  town.     Some  of  them  want  saloons;  others  do 
not.   But  the  same  man  represents  all  of  them  at  the  capitol. 
Since  a  representative  has  only  one  vote,  in  a  case  like  this 
he  should  act  as  he  believes  the  most  thoughtful  and  loyal 
people  expect  him  to  act. 


140  MY  COUNTRY 

When  a  Representative  fails  to  represent  the  People 

14.  If  a  man  who  is  sent  to  the  capitol  fails  really  to 
represent  the  people,   then  as  soon  as  possible  they  find 
someone  else  to  take  his  place. 

15.  One  year  a  very  bitter  fight  was  being  made  in  Iowa 
over  the  selling  of  liquor.   A  little  farming  town  sent  a  bright 
young  man  to  the  capitol  at  Des  Moines  to  represent  it. 
Of  the  five  hundred  men  who  voted  not  more  than  ten 
wanted  saloons.    Yet  when  the  men  at  the  capitol  came  to 
vote  on  this,  the  representative  of  the  five  hundred  men  in 
the  small  town  misrepresented  four  hundred  and  ninety  of 
them  and  voted  for  the  saloons.    When  these  four  hundred 
and  ninety  men  read  in  the  paper  what  had  been  done  at 
Des  Moines,  they  were,  of  course,  indignant.    But  after  they, 
talked  it  over,  they  saw  that  they  had  been  at  fault  them- 
selves and  had  sent  the  wrong  man  to  the  capitol.    There 
was  nothing  to  do  but  wait  until  it  was  time  to  choose 
another  representative. 

Choosing  the  Right  Representative 

16.  In  all  parts   of  the   country  the  people  in  towns, 
villages,  and  cities  often  are  so  busy   or  thoughtless  that 
they  let  the  wrong  men   go   to   the   capitol  to  represent 
them.     When  this  happens,  the   state  government  is  not 
truly  representative,  but  it  is  the  people's  fault. 

17.  One  day  a   bookkeeper   on   his   way  to  work  was 
nearly  pushed  off   the   sidewalk   by  two   red-nosed,  loud- 
talking  men.     One  was  evidently  a  hard  drinker,  the  other 
seemed    especially    gifted    in    profanity.      The    bookkeeper 
turned  to  somebody  near  him  and  asked  who  the  two  men 


REPRESENTATIVE  GOVERNMENT 


141 


were.  A  look  of  disgust  came  over  the  bookkeeper's  face 
when  he  learned  that  they  were  his  representatives  at  the 
state  capitol.  He  had  voted  for  both  men,  but  he  had  never 


Copr.  Life  Publishing  Co. 

A  Poor  Representative  of  his  Employer.    Why  is  he  not  at  Work  ? 

seen  them  before  and  had  not  taken  the  trouble  to  learn 
anything  about  them.  He  was  ashamed,  as  were  hundreds 
of  others,  to  know  that  men  whom  he  did  not  consider  fit 
to  eat  at  his  table  or  to  talk  to  his  wife  and  children  were 


142  MY  COUNTRY 

representing  him,  acting  for  him.  Never  again  did  he  vote 
for  a  representative  until  he  had  seen  him  and  found  out 
everything  possible  about  him.  "Anybody  who  represents 
me,"  he  decided,  "must  look  like  a  gentleman,  act  like  a 
gentleman,  and  be  a  gentleman." 

18.  Business  men  have  to  be  extremely  careful  whom 
they  employ  to  represent  them.   A  banker,  a  manufacturer,  an 
editor, —  any  man  who  hires  a  secretary, —  knows  that  many 
times  a  day  this  secretary  must  act  for  him.    So  he  takes 
pains  to  choose  a  person  who  looks  well,  talks  well,  acts 
well.    A  secretary  who  gets  facts  twisted,  who  is  irritable, 
or  who  is  not   on  hand  when  needed,  is  the  wrong  kind 
of  representative  for  a  good  business  man.    Clerks  in  stores 
represent  those  who  own  the  stores.    They  sell  goods  for 
their    employers.     Therefore    the   store-owners   must    have 
clerks  who  will  represent  them  properly.    When  you  find  a 
clerk  or  an  office  boy  who  is  surly,  disrespectful,  and  un- 
truthful, either  he  is  badly  misrepresenting  his  employer  or 
his  employer  is  a  surly,  disrespectful,  untruthful  person. 

19.  We  are  all  judged  by  our  representatives.    So  whether 
it  is  a  boy  who  represents  his  grade  at  a  speaking  contest, 
or  a  garden-club  girl  who  is  sent  to  Washington,  or  a  clerk 
who  sells  goods,  or  a  man  who  votes  at  the  state  capitol. 
the  representative  must  be  chosen  with  great  care. 

Both  Senators  and  Representatives  represent  the  People 

20.  We  have  already  said  that  some  of  the  representa- 
tives whom  the  people  send  to  the  capitol  are  called  senators 
and  some  representatives.    There  is  no  important  difference 
between  the  two  groups  of  men ;   they  all  have,  as  their 
chief  duty,  to  act  for  the  people  who  sent  them.    Each  state 


REPRESENTATIVE  GOVERNMENT  143 

is  divided  into  senatorial  and  representative  districts;  the 
former  are  larger  and  have  only  one  senator,  but  the  latter 
often  have  several  representatives.  Therefore  each  citizen 
has  at  least  two  men  representing  him  in  the  legislature. 

21.  With  two  or  more  persons  representing  them  at  the 
capitol,  there  is  very  little  danger  that  the  people  of  any 
state  will  to-day  be  greatly  oppressed  or  ill-treated.    This  is 
altogether  different  from  conditions  that  existed  before  the 
Revolutionary  War.    The  king  of  England  sent  strangers  to 
govern  the  colonies,  men  whose   chief  business  it  was  to 
represent  the  king  and  not  the  people. 

The  Governor  represents  the  People 

22.  Just  as  there  are  forty-eight   state  capitols   in  the 
United   States,  so  there   are  forty-eight   governors,  one  for 
each  state.    The  colonial  governors  represented  the  king  of 
England ;    our  governors  to-day  represent  the  people.    This 
means  that,  in  addition  to  one  or  more  representatives  and 
one  senator,  every  person  in  each  state  has  one  governor  to 
represent  him  at  the  capitol.    The  governor  cannot  vote  in 
the  senate,  and  he  cannot  vote  in  the  house  of  representatives. 
Then  how  can  he  represent  the  people  ?    In  several  ways. 

23.  Perhaps  the  people  of  a  certain  town  want  a  state 
law  which  will  require  all  towns  and  villages  to  provide 
free  evening  schools.    The  representatives  they  have  sent  to 
the  capitol  refuse  to  vote  for  such  schools.    Since  each  rep- 
resentative serves  for  a  definite  period  of  time,  a  new  man 
cannot  be  chosen  until  the  term  of  the  first  one  is  up.    So 
the  only  thing  the  people  can  do  is  to  send  a  committee  to 
the  capitol  to  see  the  governor.    The  governor  receives  them, 
listens  to  what  they  have  to  say,  and  asks  questions.    Later 


144  MY  COUNTRY 

he  talks  with  business  men  and  school  superintendents  from 
all  parts  of  the  state.  He  finds  that  the  men  whose  opinion 
he  most  values  believe  that  the  towns  and  cities  should 
have  free  evening  schools,  just  as  they  have  free  day  schools. 
So  he  convinces  the  leaders  of  the  senate  and  the  house  of 
representatives  that  such  a  law  should  be  passed. 

24.  Since  the  governor  is  a  very  busy  man  he  cannot 
always  know  just  what  all  the  people  want.    If  the  com- 
mittee had  not  appealed  to  him,  the   evening-school  law 
might  not  have  passed.   In  some  cases  it  may  not  be  possi- 
ble for  a  committee  to  go  to  the  governor,  but  the  people 
can  always  write  to  him.    If  a  governor  gets  letters  from 
many  towns,  each  signed  by  hundreds  of  voters,  he  will  be 
sure  to  give  them  attention. 

Representing  the  People  by  Vetoing 

25.  Another  way  that  the  governor   can  represent  the 
people  is   by  vetoing   laws  that  he  thinks   are  wrong  or 
harmful.     Every  law  (or  bill,  as  it  is  called  before  it  is 
voted  on  and  approved)  that  the  senators  and  representatives 
pass  has  to  go  to  the  governor.    If  he  signs  it,  it  becomes 
a  law.    If  he  returns  it  unsigned  (this  is  called  vetoing  it), 
then  the  bill  does  not  become  a  law  unless  the  senators  and 
representatives  again  vote  to  pass  it.    When  those  four  hun- 
dred and  ninety  men  in  the  Iowa  community  discovered 
that  their  representative  was   misrepresenting   them,  they 
could  have  gone  to  the  capitol  to  see  the  governor.    They 
could  have  told  him  that  out  of  five  hundred  men  only  ten 
wanted  saloons.    They  could  have  said :  "  We  have  sent  the 
wrong  man  to  Des  Moines.    We  do  not  want  saloons.    We 
hope  you  will  veto  this  bill." 


REPRESENTATIVE  GOVERNMENT  145 

26.  Because  of  his  power  of  veto  the  governor  could  have 
said :  "  I  don't  believe  that  most  of  the  people  want  saloons. 
The  people  are  being  misrepresented.    I  will  veto  the  bill." 
In  doing  this  he  would  have  represented  the  people. 

Representing  Oneself  at  the  Capitol 

27.  There  is  still  another  way  that  a  person  can  be  rep- 
resented at  the  capitol  of  his  state.    He  can  go  there  himself 
if  he  is  willing  to  leave  his  work  and  to  spend  the  money 
necessary  for  carfares,  etc.   He  cannot  vote  either  in  the 
senate  or  in  the  house  of  representatives,  but  he  can  search 
out  his  senator  and  representative  and  tell  them  what  he 
wants.    In  some  states  the   representatives  have  a  public 
hearing  before  they  vote  on  a  bill.    This  means  that  at  a 
certain  time,  which  is  announced  in  the  newspapers,  any 
man,  woman,  or  even  child  can  go  to  the  capitol  and  tell 
why  he  thinks  a  bill  should  be  passed  or  defeated. 

Factory  Girls  and  Children  at  the  Capitol 

28.  One  year  some  of  the  people  of  Pennsylvania  wanted 
a  law  passed  forbidding  employers  to  make  women  and  girls 
work  more  than  nine  hours  a  day.    Many  factory  girls  went 
to  the  capitol  to  represent  themselves.    One  Polish  girl  of 
sixteen  talked  to  the  legislators  for  over  half  an  hour.    She 
was  the  only  girl  speaker,  and  many  of  the  men  before  her 
were  mill-owners  of  great  wealth.    Yet  she  pleaded  so  well 
for  the  thousands  of  overworked  women  and  girls  whom  she 
represented  that  when  she  had  finished,  the  men  applauded 
her.    Recently  in  one  of  the  states  a  group  of  people  decided 
to  try  to  have  the  senate  and  house  of  representatives  vote 
a  large  sum  of  money  to  educate  the  blind.   More  than  twenty 


146  MY  COUNTRY 

blind  men  and  women  went  to  the  hearing  at  the  capitol. 
It  was  an  impressive  meeting,  as  one  man  after  another 
who  had  never  seen  the  light  of  the  sun  turned  toward 
seeing  men  and  asked  that  the  blind  be  given  teachers  to 
help  them  learn  trades  by  which  they  could  earn  their  living. 


The  Marble  Stairway  in  Pennsylvania's  Capitol 

29.  No  person  is  too  poor  or  too  humble  to  be  heard  at 
these  hearings  at  the  state  capitol.  Even  young  boys  and 
girls  have  spoken  there.  At  one  time  when  the  representa- 
tives at  the  capitol  of  a  Western  state  were  discussing 
whether  they  should  have  a  juvenile  court,  forty  boys 
appeared  at  the  hearing.  They  told  how  they  had  been 
unjustly  treated  by  policemen  and  judges. 


REPRESENTATIVE  GOVERNMENT  147 

Each  Person  has  Four  Representatives  at  the  Capitol 

30.  If,  then,  every  person  in  the  state  has  one  governor, 
one  senator,  one  or  more  representatives,  and  himself  to 
represent  him,  it  is  his  own  fault  if  the  wrong  laws  are  passed. 

Little  Capitols  in  Towns  and  Cities 

31.  Capitol  comes  from  a  Latin  word  that  means  "head." 
The  capitol  at  Washington  is  the  head  building  in  all  the 
United  States.    The  forty-eight  state  capitols  are  the  head  or 
chief  buildings  in  the  state.    But  besides  these  capitols  there 
are  hundreds  of  other  head  buildings  in  the  country.    There 
is  one  in  every  town,  village,  city,  and  county,  but  it  is  not 
called  a  capitol.    In  the  cities  it  is  usually  known  as  the 
city  hall,  in  the  towns  and  villages  as  the  town  or  village 
hall,  and  in  counties  as  the  county  building.    These,  like  the 
capitols,  are  the  places  to  which  men  come  to  attend  to  the 
business  of  the  people.    They  are  seldom  as  fine  buildings 
as  the  state  capitols,  but  they  are  important. 

The  Men  at  the  Capitol  cannot  attend  to  All  of  the 
People's  Business 

32.  The  representatives  that  the  people  send  to  the  state 
capitol  cannot  take  time  to  attend  to  all  the  little  things 
which  concern  the  people  in  all  the  towns.    Perhaps  the 
town  of  Barnstable,  Massachusetts,  needs  a  new  schoolhouse, 
or  the  city  of  Springfield,  Ohio,  wants  some  of  its  streets  re- 
paved.    Schoolhouses  and  streets  are  important.    But  if  the 
senators  and  representatives  at  the  capitol  had  to  attend  to 
all  such  matters  for  all  towns  and  cities,  there  would  be  no 
time  left  for  the  bigger  things  that  concern  the  whole  state. 


148  MY  COUNTRY 

City  Representatives 

33.  But  somebody  must  decide  such  things.    As  a  city 
grows,  new  schoolhouses  must  be  built,  fire  engines  must  be 
bought,  pure  drinking  water  must  be  supplied,  streets  must 
be  paved  and  well  lighted.    Every  family  in  every  town, 
village,  and  city  is  interested  in  all  these  matters,  but  very 
few  men  can  leave  their  work  in  stores,  offices,  farms,  and 
factories  to  attend  to  them.    So  they  send  representatives  to 
act  for  them.    Cities  are  usually  divided  into  wards,  or  dis- 
tricts, and  the  people  send  one  representative  from  each  ward. 
These  representatives  have  different  names  in  different  states, 
but  perhaps  are  oftenest  called  aldermen  or  councilmen. 

How  the  Mayor  represents  the  People 

34.  The  people  of  a  city  also  choose  a  mayor,  who  repre- 
sents all  the  people  of  the  city  in  much  the  same  way  that 
the  governor  represents  all  the  people  of  the  state.    The 
aldermen  or  councilmen  make  laws  (which  are  usually  called 
ordinances),  and  if  the  mayor  thinks  that  any  law  is  unfair 
or  does  not  meet  the  needs  of  the  people,  he  can  veto  it. 
He  also  suggests  new  laws  that  he  thinks  the  people  want. 
In  Boston  a  great  many  people  objected  to  having  girls  work 
in  "  shoe-shine  parlors."    They  asked  the  mayor  to  use  his 
influence  to  stop  it.    He  decided  that  shining  shoes  in  public 
places  was  not  girls'  work  and  that  if  the  "  parlors  "  did  not 
themselves  refuse  to  hire  girls,  he  would  ask  the  common 
council  to  pass  a  law  forbidding  it.    The  mayor  in  many 
cities  also  acts  for  the  people  by  choosing  men  for  such  im- 
portant positions  as  those  of  street  commissioner,  chairman 
of  the  board  of  health,  head  of  the  fire  department,  etc. 


REPRESENTATIVE  GOVERNMENT  149 

Where  the  People  are  their  Own  Representatives 

35.  Not  all  the  people  live  in  cities.  Even  the  smallest 
town  must  have  schools,  fire  departments,  good  roads.  The 
people's  business  is  just  as  important  in  a  town  as  in  a 
city.  Here,  too,  the  people  let  much  of  their  business  be 
done  for  them  by  representatives.  These  representatives  are 


A  City  and  County  Building 

called  selectmen  in  New  England  and  village  trustees  in 
many  other  parts  of  the  country.  Working  with  them  are 
tax  collectors,  school  directors,  town  clerk,  etc.  In  New 
England  the  people  themselves  decide  exactly  what  these 
representatives  shall  do.  The  school  directors  do  not  decide 
that  they  will  have  a  new  schoolhouse.  The  citizens  of  the 
town  themselves  go  to  the  town  hall  once  a  year  or  oftener 
and  settle  all  such  matters.  Every  man,  however  poor, 


150  MY  COUNTRY 

however  rich,  is  supposed  to  attend  this  meeting.  Even  the 
busiest  men  can  afford  to  give  one  day  to  the  town's  business. 
The  rest  of  the  year  the  selectmen,  tax  collectors,  etc.,  whom 
the  people  choose  to  act  for  them,  carry  out  their  wishes. 

Who  are  not  Represented 

36.  We  have  said  that  the  representatives  represent  all 
the  people.    But  not  everybody  can  vote.    Children  cannot 
vote,  and  in  some  states  women  cannot.    In  such  states  the 
only  way  that  women  can  get  the  right  person  to  represent 
them  at  the  state  capitol  is  by  telling  the  men  voters  whom 
they  want.    They  can,  however,  always  send  committees  to 
the  governor  and  to  the  mayor  and  can  appear  at  hearings. 

Why  Children  cannot  Vote 

37.  Children  cannot  vote;  that  is,  they  cannot  choose  the 
men  who  are  to  represent  them  at  the  capitol,  the  city  hall, 
and  town  hall.    Neither  can  young  men  vote  until  they 
are  twenty-one  years  old.    At  first  this  seems  hardly  just, 
but  there  are  good  reasons  for  it.    From  the  first  day  that 
a  boy  and  a  girl  go  to  school  they  are  preparing  to  do  their 
part  of  the  world's  work.    They  are  training  their  brains 
and  their  bodies.    It  often  takes  twenty  years,  sometimes 
longer,  to  grow  a  full-sized  body.    If  a  boy  has  kept  on 
through  the  high  school,  by  the  time  he  gets  his  diploma 
he  is  probably  seventeen  or  eighteen.    At  this  age  he  has  a 
partly  trained  mind,  but  still  is  not  ready  to  do  a  man's 
work.    He  now  either  keeps  on  into  college  or  into  some 
school  which  gives  him  further  special  training,  or  learns  a 
trade,  or  finds  a  position.    In  any  case  he  is  still  learning 


REPRESENTATIVE  GOVERNMENT  151 

how  to  use  his  hands  and  brain.  He  is  still  learning  about 
men,  and  business,  and  government.  When  he  is  twenty- 
one  years  old  he  has  by  no  means  stopped  learning,  but  he 
is  better  able  to  think  and  act  for  himself.  He  is  therefore 
allowed  to  help  choose  the  men  who  will  represent  him  at 
the  state  capitol  and  at  the  city  hall  or  town  hall. 

How  Children  are  Represented 

38.  Even  ten-year-old  school  pupils,  however,  can  "always 
be  represented  through  their  parents  and  older  brothers.    If 
school  pupils  want  the  privilege  of  coasting  down  a  certain 
hill,  each  one  can  urge  his  father  to  request  the  mayor  or 
selectmen  to  forbid  automobiles  and  teams  using  that  hill 
at   certain   hours.     Whenever   a   large   enough   number   of 
fathers  want  a  thing  done,  it  is  usually  done. 

39.  Many  a  time  school  pupils  have  acted  for  themselves. 
In  the  crowded  section  of  a  large  Eastern  city  there  was 
no  public  playground.    If  the  boys  played  baseball  they 
had  to  go  several  miles  or  play  in  the  street.     One  of  the 
teachers  suggested  that  the  boys  make  out  a  petition  to  the 
mayor,  telling  him  of   their  grievance  and  asking  that  a 
playground  be  opened  up  for  them.    This  they  did.    They 
wrote  out  the  petition  at  school,  and  a  committee  of  two 
boys  took  it  from  house  to  house  to  get  the  names  of  men 
who  approved  of  the  request.    Then  early  one  evening  the 
mayor's  doorbell  rang.    In  his  yard  and  in  the  street  were 
high-school  and  grammar-school  boys  with  banners  and  the 
petition.    This  sheet  of  paper  was  just  as  important  in  the 
eyes  of  the  mayor  as  if  five  hundred  men  had  presented  it, 
for  not  only  had  more  than  five  hundred  men  signed  it,  but 
five  hundred  boys  had  presented  it. 


152  MY  COUNTRY 

40.  A  bright  grammar-school  boy  was  arrested  one  day 
for  stealing  apples.     He  had   been  a  favorite  among  the 
pupils,  for  he  always  "played  fair"  in  their  games.    They 
wanted  the  judge  of  the  Juvenile  Court  to  give  him  another 
chance.    But  they  could  not  go  to  court  and  ask  this,  so 
they  wrote  this  letter  to  their  principal : 

Dear  Mr.  Ellsworth : 

Sam  Black  has  been  arrested  for  stealing  some  apples  out 
of  a  barrel  at  the  back  of  Jordan's  store.  Nobody  ought  to 
steal,  and  of  course  Sam  ought  not  to.  But  Sam  always  plays 
fair  at  school,  and  we  like  him.  Won't  you  ask  the  judge  to 
let  him  off  this  time  ?  We  think  the  apples  looked  so  good 
Sam  thought  he  was  picking  them  off  a  tree. 

Very  truly  yours, 

41.  Thirty  boys  signed  their  names  to  it,  and  one  boy 
carried  it  to  the  principal's  office.     The  principal  and  the 
boy  went  to  the  courthouse.   When  Sam's  case  was  called,  a 
policeman  and  the  groceryman  testified  against  him.    When 
the  principal's  turn  came,  he  told  the  judge  that  thirty  of 
his  pupils  believed  that  Sam  meant  to  be  honest  and  would 
never  again  steal  anything.    He  showed  the  letter  written 
by  his  classmates.    The  judge  decided  to  put  Sam  on  pro- 
bation, and  said  that  if  the  principal  could  report  to  him 
once  a  week  for  six  months  that  Sam  was  studying  hard 
and  stealing  nothing,  his  case  would  be  dropped. 

42.  The  thirty  boys  by  going  to  the  principal,  who  went 
to  the  judge,  were  representing  themselves  as  truly  as  any 
group  of  men  were  ever  represented.    There  are  many  ways 
in  the  United  States  by  which  men,  women,  and  children 
can  let  their  wants  and  wishes  be  known. 


REPRESENTATIVE  GOVERNMENT  153 

QUESTIONS  AND  PROBLEMS 

NOTE  TO  TEACHERS.  Those  teachers  who  wish  to  make  their  treat- 
ment of  representative  government  more  technical  can  make  use  of  the 
Appendix  material. 

1.  The  title  of  this  chapter  is  Representative  Government. 
Explain  in  not  more  than  ten  words  what  this  means. 

2.  When  a  man  comes  to  your  door  and  says  that  he 
represents  the  Smith  Vacuum  Cleaner  Company,  what  does 
he  mean? 

3.  Why  did  not  all  the  Boston  schoolboys  go  to  General 
Gage's  house  ?    What  would  probably  have  happened  if  two 
hundred  boys   had  gone,  one  at  a  time,  to  General  Gage  ? 
4.  Why  did  not  each  of  the  fifty  thousand  pupils  present  his 
gift  of  money  to  Marshal  Joffre  ? 

5.  The  text  says  that  the  government  of  every  town,  vil- 
lage, and  state  in  the  United  States  and  of  the  whole  nation 
is  representative.    The  text  also  says  that  the  government  of 
every   country  is   representative.     Does  this   mean   that   our 
government   is   like   all   other   governments  ?    Explain   your 
answer. 

6.  What  does  democracy  mean?    7.  To-day  France  is  a 
democracy.  Once  it  was  an  aristocracy.  What  is  an  aristocracy  ? 
Was  the  United  States  ever  an  aristocracy  ? 

8.  What  is  the  difference  between  capitol  and  capital? 
9.  What  is  the  name  of  your  state  capital  ? 

10.  What  is  the  capitol  used  for  ?  11.  Have  you  ever  seen 
your  capitol  ?  If  you  have,  describe  it.  12.  How  much  did  it 
cost  ?  13.  Who  have  offices  in  the  capitol  ?  (See  Appendix, 
p.  380). 

14.  What  are  the  most  important  rooms  in  the  capitol? 
Why  are  they  important  ? 


154  MY  COUNTRY 

15.  What  do  we  mean  when  we  speak  of  the  business  of 
the  people  ?  16.  Who  attends  to  the  business  of  the  people 
of  the  state  ? 

17.  What  is  the  difference  between  a  senator  and  a  repre- 
sentative ?    (See  also  Appendix,  p.  378.) 

18.  How  many  representatives  does  your  state  have  ?  What 
are  they  called  ?    19.  Who  is  your  senator  at  the  state  capitol, 
and  who  are  your  representatives  ?    20.  When  they  are  not  at 
the  capitol,  what  is  their  business  —  are  they  lawyers,  bakers, 
bookkeepers,  or  what  ? 

21.  W^hat  does  it  mean  to  vote  for  a  representative  ?    When 
your  teacher   asks    how  many  pupils  want  to  do  a  certain 
thing,    how   do   the    pupils    show   what   they   prefer  ?    Tell 
three  ways  in  which  you  might  vote  for  a  boy  to  represent 
you  at  a  debate. 

22.  When  does  a  representative  not  represent  ? 

23.  If  you  were  choosing  a  person  to  go  to  the  President 
at  Washington  to  tell  what  you  wanted,  what  sort  of  person 
would  you  choose  ?    24.  Describe  the  kind  of  secretary  you 
would  hire  to  represent  you  if   you  were  a  business  man. 
25.  If  you  were  the  employer  of  the  boy  shown  on  page  141, 
what  would  you  say  to  him  ? 

26.  Who  makes  the  laws  of  your  state  ?    What  is  a  law  ? 

27.  The  text  tells  of  a  law  requiring  employers  to  pay 
competent  women  and  girl  workers  a  living  wage.    What  is 
a  living  wage  ?    Has  your  state  such  a  law  or  a  similar  law  ? 

28.  Who  really  makes  the  laws  ?   Explain  your  answer. 

29.  Since  the  same  man  represents  a  large  number  of  dif- 
ferent people,  what  is  he  to  do  when  some  of  these  people 
want  one  thing  and  some  another  ?     30.  What  happened  in 
a  case  like  this  in  Iowa  ? 


REPRESENTATIVE  GOVERNMENT  155 

31.  Ask  your  father  and  your  principal  if  the  representa- 
tives whom  they  helped  send  to  the  state  capitol  have  done 
what  they  themselves  would  have  done  if  each  had  been  his 
own  representative. 

32.  Senators  and  representatives  are  often  called  legislators. 
You  have  learned  in  your  spelling  lessons  that  words  usually 
have  two  or  more  parts.   This  word  has  two  parts.    Consult  an 
unabridged  dictionary  and  find  the  two  parts  of  this  and  tell 
what  they  mean.    What  does  legislature  mean  ? 

33.  Every  person  in  your  state  has  at  least  four  representa- 
tives at  the  capitol.    Who  are  they  ? 

34.  Explain  how  the  governor  is  a  representative  of  the 
people  (see  the  text  and  also  Appendix,  p.  380).     35.  What 
can  the  people  do  when  they  have  sent  the  wrong  representa- 
tive to  the  capitol  ? 

36.  What  is  vetoing?    How  can  the  veto  help  the  people  ? 

37.  Does  your  town  or  city  have  saloons?    If  it  does  not, 
tell  how  they  were  closed.    If  it  does,  explain  what  you  could 
do  to  help  close  them. 

38.  In  what  way  can  you   and  others  who   cannot  vote 
represent  yourselves  at  the  capitol  ?    Do  you  know  any  women 
who  have  done  this  ? 

39.  Is  a  poor  person  as  well  represented  at  the  capitol  as 
a  rich  person  ?    40.  What  is  a  hearing  ?    41.  If  you  were  poor, 
would  this  fact  prevent  you  from  speaking  at  a  hearing  ? 

42.  Explain  how  a  town  hall  and  a  city  hall  are  some- 
thing like  a  capitol. 

43.  Who  are  the  representatives  in  the  city  government  ? 
44.  Who  are  the  representatives  in  the  town  ?    45.  Make  a 
list  of  all  the  different  kinds  of  representatives,  like  school 
directors,  tax  collector,  mayor,  that  your  town  or  city  has. 


156  MY  COUNTRY   . 

46.  Why  do  not  the  state  representatives  attend  to  all  the 
business  of  the  people  ? 

47.  What  has  your  mayor  or  your  selectmen  or  trustees 
tried  to  do  for  the  people  this  year  ? 

48.  Explain  how  school  pupils  can  let  mayors  and  select- 
men or  trustees  know  what  they  need  and  want.    49.  What  is 
a  petition  ? 

50.  Describe  the  kind  of  man  that  you  would  like  to  have 
represent  you  as  governor.  51.  Who  is  the  present  governor 
of  your  state  ?  Who  was  the  governor  who  preceded  him  ? 
Which  governor  do  you  think  best  represented  all  the  people  ? 

52.  If  you  had  an  English  or  a  Russian  cousin  visiting 
you  for  the  first  time,  what  should  you  tell  this  cousin  about 
your  governor  and  your  mayor  ?  53.  What  special  things  has 
your  mayor  or  governor  done  that  you  could  talk  about  with 
pride  ? 


CHAPTER  XI 

REPRESENTATIVE  GOVERNMENT  (CONTINUED) 

Europe,  Asia,  and  South  America  send  Messengers 
to  the  United  States 

1.  Every   large    country   in   Europe   or  Asia,   with  two 
exceptions,  and  many  small  countries,  in  1917  sent  special 
messengers  to  the  United*  States  on  important  business.    So 
urgent  was  this  business  that  ordinary  persons  could  not  be 
intrusted  with  it.    Therefore  England  chose  one  of  her  most 
distinguished  statesmen  and  one  of  her  greatest  financiers. 
France  sent  her  greatest  war  hero  and  her  most   popular 
orator.    Italy  sent  one  of   her  princes.     Norway,   Sweden, 
China,  Japan,  all  sent  honored  citizens  to  us.    These  mes- 
sengers crossed  the  long  stretches  of  ocean  at  a  time  when 
travel  by  steamship   was   full  of  peril.     Submarines  were 
daily  sinking  passenger  vessels,  and  no  man  knew  when  he 
left  his  home  that  he  would  ever  see  it  again.    Fifteen 
battleships  guarded  the    ship  on  which  the  English  mes- 
sengers crossed  the  Atlantic. 

They  want  the  Help  of  the  People 

2.  All  the  messengers  had  come  to  ask  the  help  of  the 
United  States.    Some  wanted  food  for  their  country,  others 
wanted  guns,  still  others  money — and  all  wanted  the  sym- 
pathy and  good  will  of  the  American  people.     But  after 

157 


158  MY  COUNTRY 

these  distinguished  men  had  safely  crossed  the  ocean  and 
stood  on  American  soil,  how  were  they  to  give  their  im- 
portant messages  to  the  people  ?  Must  they  travel  through 
the  country,  stopping  at  each  village  and  city,  asking  for 


France  sent  a  Famous  General  as  One  of  her  Messengers  —  Marshal 
Joffre,  the  Hero  of  the  Battle  of  the  Marne 


help?  The  United  States  is  so  large  that  this  would  have 
been  impossible.  The  time  of  the  special  messengers  was  too 
valuable  to  be  wasted  in  this  way.  New  York  City  is  our 
largest  and  richest  city.  Did  these  visitors  go  to  the  mayor 
and  ask  him  to  appeal  for  them  to  the  people  of  his  city  ? 


REPRESENTATIVE  GOVERNMENT 


159 


How  a  Foreign  Country  gets  Help  from  our  People 

3.  No  ;  a  few  hours  after  each  group  of  messengers  arrived 
in  America  they  turned  toward  one  of  our  smaller  cities. 
It  was  there  that  they  would  either  succeed  or  fail.    Each 
of  the  several  hundred  men 

who  came  to  America  on 
special  business  for  their 
nations  understood  that  in 
Washington  centered  all 
his  hopes. 

4.  Washington  is  the  peo- 
ple's city.    It  is  the  capital 
of  the  nation.    Every  town, 
village,    and    city    in    the 
United    States    is     repre- 
sented in  Washington   by 
many   persons,  —  senators, 
representatives,  the   presi- 
dent, and  his  assistants.   In 
everything  that  affects  all 
the  people  as  a  whole  these 
representatives    at    Wash- 

ington   have    the    pOWer    tO  Copr.  International  Film 

act.  The  foreign  messengers         Ita1^  sent  One  of  her  Princes  as 

therefore  knew  that  they 

could  get  the  help  of  the  United  States  only  through  these  men. 

5.  In  times  of  crisis  the  nation  might  be  ruined  if  the 
president  had  to  wait  to  consult  all  the  states,  for  the  states 
could  act  only  through  their  legislatures.    For  forty-eight 
governors  to   call  the   state    representatives   to    the    state 


160  MY  COUNTRY 

capitols,  and  for  these  to  pass  the  necessary  laws  to  help 
the  president,  would  take  many  weeks  and  perhaps  months. 
But  we  have  a  national  Senate  and  House  of  Eepresenta- 
tives  which  meet  regularly  at  Washington  and  which  the 
president  can  summon  to  Washington  whenever  there  is 
danger.  The  Senate  and  the  House  of  Eepresentatives 
together  are  called  Congress. 

Why  we  have  Representatives  at  Washington 

6.  We  need  representatives  at  Washington  in  times  of 
peace  as  well  as   of  war.    Therefore  every  year  ninety-six 
senators  (two  from  each  state)  and  over  four  hundred  rep- 
resentatives go  to  Washington  and  for  several  months  attend 
to  the  business  of  the  nation.    As  far  as  possible  all  the 
needs  of  the  people  are  supposed  to  be  looked  out  for  by 
the  town,   city,  and   state  representatives.     But   there  are 
many  things  which  it  is  difficult  for  a  town  or  a  state  to 
do  for  itself.    Every  community  in  the  United  States  is 
dependent  on  many  other  communities.    The  telegraph,  the 
telephone,  the  railroad,  stretch  from  town  to  town,  from  state 
to  state.    This  great  system  of  necessities  and  conveniences 
cannot  be  managed  by  any  one  town  or  state. 

Helping  the  People  get  Pure  Food 

7.  The  representatives  at  a  state  capital  may  pass  a  law 
forbidding   anyone  in  that  state   to   make  or  sell  impure 
food.    But  no  state  produces  all  the  different  kinds  of  food 
that  its  people  demand.  The  fisherman  on  the  New  England 
coast  gets  his  oranges  from  Florida  and  California.    The 
orange-growers  of  Florida  and  California  send  to  the  New 


KEPEESENTATIVE  GOVEENMENT  161 

England  coast  for  their  salt  codfish.  Florida  cannot  make  a 
law  forbidding  New  England  to  sell  impure  food.  Massachu- 
setts cannot  prevent  Florida  from  selling  poor  oranges.  Only 
the  representatives  at  Washington  can  pass  laws  which  all 
the  states  must  obey.  One  state  cannot  send  an  inspector 
into  another  state  to  examine  the  food  that  is  prepared  there. 
When  our  representatives  at  Washington  realized  that  the 
people  of  the  country  were  not  well  protected  against  care- 
less and  dishonest  food  manufacturers  and  producers,  they 
passed  a  Pure  Food  and  Drugs  Act.  This  benefited  all  the 
people,  for  national  inspectors  can  go  into  any  and  every 
factory  and  thus  protect  the  families  in  even  the  smallest 
towns. 

Helping  the  Farmer  get  Mail 

8.  Without  its  post-office  department  this  country  would 
still  be  only  a  group  of  separate  states  knowing  very  little 
about  each  other.  For  many  years  a  part  of  the  people 
were  helped  by  the  post  office  far  more  than  others.  The 
people  in  cities  had  all  mail  delivered  at  their  door.  Whether 
the  weather  was  stormy  or  fair,  the  pavements  clear  or  icy, 
the  postman  left  at  each  house  the  letters  and  papers  that 
belonged  there.  In  small  towns  and  villages  the  people  went 
to  the  post  office  for  their  mail.  But  what  about  the  farmers 
who  lived  miles  away  from  a  post  office  ?  In  the  busy  seasons 
and  in  bad  winter  weather  they  could  not  conveniently  drive 
to  the  village.  Our  government,  which  was  supposed  to  show 
no  favoritism,  helped  the  city  more  than  the  town,  and  the 
town  more  than  the  country  districts.  The  people's  repre- 
sentatives at  Washington  realized  this,  and  after  a  time 
passed  a  law  requiring  the  post-office  department  to  deliver 
mail  to  farmers  also. 


162  MY  COUNTRY 

Helping  the  People  send  Packages 

9.  Later  the  people  began  to  see  that  a  parcel  post  for 
every  part  of  the  country  would  be  a  great  help,  especially 
to   the  families  living  a  long  distance  from  express  offices. 
So  after  a  time  the  representatives  at  Washington  passed 
a  parcel-post  law.    Now  on  Monday  morning  a  farmer  can 
hand  the  postman  five  pounds  of  butter  and  three  dozen 
eggs  to  be  sent  to  someone  in  a  city  a  hundred  miles  away. 
At  the  end  of  the  week,  perhaps,  the  postman  will  bring  the 
farmer  a  letter  containing  a  post-office  money  order  for  the 
butter  and  eggs.    Not  only  this,  but  the  postman  will  cash 
this  money  order  for  the  farmer  so  that  he  need  not  make 
a  trip  to  the  post  office.    This  law  helps  both  the  city  and 
the  country. 

Helping  the  People  save  Rivers  and  Lakes 

10.  For  many  years  the  American  people  were  wasteful 
of  rivers,  lakes,  and  forests.     Suddenly  someone  sounded 
an  alarm.     It  was  discovered  that  when  mountains  were 
stripped  of  trees,  the  springs  and  brooks  dried  up.    Lakes 
and  rivers  were  already  beginning  to  shrink.    Without  lakes 
and  streams -our  fertile  acres  would  soon  disappear.     The 
people  in  all  parts  of  the  country  began  to  say,  "Something 
must  be  done."   But  what  could  the  people  in  San  Francisco, 
New  Orleans,  or  New  York  City  do  to  prevent  the  men  who 
owned  mountain  forests  in  the  White  Mountains,  the  Appa- 
lachians, or  the  Rockies  from  cutting  them  down  whenever 
they  pleased?    When   the   representatives   at   Washington 
talked  the  matter  over,  they  decided  that  the  best  way  to 
preserve  forests  would  be  for  the  nation  to  buy  the  mountains 


REPRESENTATIVE  GOVERNMENT  163 

whose  brooks  helped  feed  important  rivers  and  lakes.  So 
they  passed  a  law  requiring  the  national  Forest  Service  to 
study  our  mountains  and  valuable  forest  land  and  then  buy 
for  the  government  the  most  important  areas. 

Helping  train  the  Nation 's  Workers 

11.  You  have  already  learned  something  about  the  impor- 
tance of  children  in  the  United  States,  and  know  that  the 
children  in  the  most  desolate  country  section  are  as  valu- 
able as  those  in  the  heart  of  New  York  or  any  other  large 
city.    But  large  cities  have  schools  of  every  kind  for  their 
young  people.    Whether  a  boy  wants  to  become  a  doctor,  a 
lawyer,  a  banker,  a  newspaper  man,  a  metal  worker,  a  car- 
penter, or  any  other  skilled  worker,  if  he  lives  in  New  York 
City  or  Chicago  he  will  find  a  training  school  near  him. 
The  great  cities  will  always  be  centers  of  education,  but 
each  community  should  give  its  boys  and  girls  some  definite 
help  toward  earning  a  living.    Many  towns,  however,  are  too 
poor  to  build  special  schools  and  to  employ  specially  trained 
teachers.     So   in    1917  the   representatives   at  Washington 
passed  a  law  providing  money  for  the  different  states  to  use 
for  free  schools  to  teach  farming  and  various  occupations. 

Helping  turn  the  Wheels  of  Industry 

12.  Even  if  trade  schools  should  graduate  all  the  skilled 
farmers,   mechanics,   and    other    special    workers    that   we 
needed,  the  United  States  might  not  be  a  prosperous  nation. 
If  fast  freight  trains  did  not  go  to  every  inhabited  part  of 
every  state;    if  wagon  and  automobile  trucks    could  not 
reach  the  most  distant  farms  and  factories;    if  telegraph 


164  MY  COUNTRY 

and  telephone  wires  did  not  stretch  from  sea  to  sea,  —  the 
factories  and  mines  could  not  dispose  of  their  products 
rapidly  enough  to  furnish  work  to  all  the  trained  workers. 
In  every  way  pos'sible,  therefore,  the  people's  representatives 
at  Washington  must  help  keep  the  factory  wheels  turning. 
One  of  the  latest  ways  that  Congress  has  helped  is  by 
voting  money  to  be  given  to  those  states  which  want  to 
build  smooth,  hard  roads  in  the  rural  sections  where  the 
roads  are  poor.  It  is  not  fair  for  Farmer  X  to  have  a  stretch 
of  broad,  hard  road  from  his  farm  to  the  railroad  station 
and  Farmer  Z  in  a  near-by  state  to  have  only  narrow,  rutty 
roads  over  which  to  haul  his  hay  and  potatoes  to  market. 
The  representatives  at  Washington  therefore  decided  to  help 
the  farmers  by  offering  to  pay  half  the  cost  of  all  rural  roads 
built  according  to  a  certain  agreement. 

13.  Somebody  has  said  that  you  have  not  seen  a  nation 
until  you  have  counted  its  smokestacks.    As  long  as  the 
smoke  pours  from  the  thousands  of  huge  factory  chimneys 
in  our  busy  nation    we  shall   be   prosperous.     But  unless 
we  have  wise  men  in  Congress,  who  will  help  make  the 
railroads   efficient,    good    wagon    roads   possible,   and   keep 
dishonest  men  from  cheating   the   people,   prosperity  will 
soon  leave  us. 

Saving  the  Seventh  Baby  and  the  Bad  Boy 

14.  One  out  of  every  seven  babies  born  in  the  United  States 
dies  before  it  is  a  year  old.    This  is  wasting  one  seventh  of  all 
our  children.   How  can  this  be  stopped  ?   Every  year  thou- 
sands  of   boys   and  girls   under  eighteen  are   arrested  for 
breaking  laws.    What  should  be  done  with  these  youthful 


EEPEESENTATIVE  GOVEKNMENT  165 

lawbreakers  ?  Are  they  really  bad  or  only  misguided  ?  It 
has  often  been  found  that  a  supposedly  bad  boy  has  a  weak 
brain  or  an  imperfect  body  through  no  fault  of  his  own. 
Such  children  need  help,  not  punishment.  How  is  it  to  be 
given  them?  The  problem  is  so  great  that  the  help  of  the 
whole  nation  is  needed.  Because  the  representatives  at 
Washington  realized  this,  they  created  a  National  Children's 
Bureau  whose  work  is  to  try  to  solve  such  problems  as  those 
of  saving  the  seventh  baby  and  the  "bad  boy." 

Sending  the  Right  Representatives  to  Washington 

15.  It  would  take  many  books  to  tell  all  the  ways  in 
which  the  senators  and  representatives  at  Washington  act 
for  the  whole  nation.    Often  they  make  mistakes,  and  occa- 
sionally dishonest,  selfish  men  among  them  bring  shame  to 
the  people  whom  they  are  supposed  to  represent.    But  you 
will  remember  that  we  found  it  was  really  the  people's  fault 
if  they  were  misrepresented  in  their  town  and  state.    It  is 
sometimes  difficult,  however,  to  send  just  the  right  repre- 
sentatives to  Washington.    There  can  be  only  two  senators 
for  each  state,  and  only  a  few  of  the  voters  can  see  the 
men  for  whom  they  vote. 

16.  But  it  is  always  possible  to  learn  the  most  important 
things  about  the  men  who  want  to  become  senators  and 
representatives.    Usually  they  make  a  tour  through  the  state, 
giving  addresses  in  the  principal  towns  and  cities.    Since 
most  men  show  their  character  in  their  face  and  voice,  a 
person  can  often  tell  what  kind  of  senator  a  man  will  make 
simply  by  seeing  and  hearing  him.   Every  person  also  has  a 
"record."    When  a  business  man  wants  to  employ  a  boy  he 


166  MY  COUNTRY 

writes  to  his  school  principal,  to  his  clergyman,  to  his  former 
employer,  to  learn  what  his  previous  record  has  been.  Every 
voter  should  try  in  some  way  to  get  answers  to  these  ques- 
tions about  his  senator  or  representative:  What  was  his 
former  occupation  ?  Why  did  he  leave  it  ?  What  did  he  do 
for  his  state  or  town  ?  Has  he  made  his  money  honestly  ? 
Has  he  paid  his  debts  ?  How  has  he  treated  his  employees  ? 

How  the  Newspaper  Helps 

17.  Probably  the  greatest  help  to  the  people  in  choosing 
their  representatives,  and  in  finding  out  how  well  these  men 
really  represent  them,  is  the  newspaper  and  the  magazine. 
Newspapers  are   the  eyes   and   ears  of  the   whole  nation. 
They  cannot  tell  all  that  happens  in  every  corner  of  the 
world,  but  they  never  fail  to  give  the  news  of  what  is  done 
in  the  national  and  state  capitols.    Besides  their  advertise- 
ments newspapers  have  two  kinds  of  reading  matter — news, 
which  is  given  without  comment,  and  editorials  and  special 
articles,  which  explain  the  news.   But  these  explanations  are 
only  opinions,  often  those  of  one  man  (the  editor).   Therefore 
no   two  newspapers    print  exactly  the   same  explanations. 
Sometimes  one  paper  will  think  a  certain  senator  a  "  noble 
leader,"  another  will  call  him  a  "traitor  to  his  country." 
Of  course  no  man  can  be  both  noble  and  traitorous.    A  per- 
son should  read  a  newspaper's  opinions  carefully,  just  as  he 
should  listen  to  a  public  speaker  or  a  friend  attentively,  but 
he  should  form  his  own  opinions. 

18.  There  are  certain  newspapers  and  magazines  in  the 
United  States  which  men  in  countries  like  England  and 
France  read  to  learn  what  America  is  thinking  and  doing. 


REPRESENTATIVE  GOVERNMENT  167 

These  papers  spend  millions  of  dollars  each  year  to  get  the 
most  accurate  news  from  every  corner  of  the  earth;  they 
hire  the  best  brains  and  the  most  skilled  writers  to  explain 
the  news.  If  there  is  trouble  in  Mexico,  they  hunt  the  nation 
over  to  find  the  men  who  know  most  about  that  country.  If 
someone  has  discovered  a  new  river  in  South  America,  they 
search  for  the  man  who  knows  most  about  South  American 
geography.  It  is  the  same  with  the  affairs  of  the  nation; 
although,  like  all  other  papers,  they  print "  opinions,"  these 
opinions  are  those  of  the  best-informed  men  in  the  country. 
Every  person  who  helps  choose  a  representative,  and  every 
person  who  wants  to  know  what  his  representative  is  doing 
at  Washington,  should  read  one  of  the  best  newspapers  as 
well  as  his  home  paper. 

QUESTIONS  AND  PROBLEMS 

1.  Consult  your  geography  and  find  out  what  are  the 
principal  countries  of  Europe  and  Asia.  2.  What  is  a  states- 
man ?  What  is  a  distinguished  statesman  ?  3.  Name  a  dis- 
tinguished statesman  (one  who  is  now  living)  of  one  of  these 
countries  —  England,  France,  Germany,  Italy,  Eussia.  You 
may  have  to  look  through  several  newspapers  and  magazines 
to  find  these.  If  you  live  near  a  good  library,  ask  the  librarian 
to  tell  you  what  magazines  or  books  to  consult.  Eemember 
that  it  is  not  dead  statesmen  you  are  searching  for. 

4.  What  is  a  financier  ?  5.  Who  was  France's  greatest 
war  hero  in  1917  ?  You  have  read  about  him  in  the  preced- 
ing chapter.  6.  What  is  a  prince?  Can  you  tell  anything 
about  any  prince  now  living  in  Europe? 

7.  Why  did  distinguished  men  come  to  America  for  help? 
8.  How  could  they  ask  the  people  for  what  they  wanted  ? 


168  MY  COUNTRY 

9.  Since  New  York  City  is  the  largest  and  richest  city  in 
the  world,  why  did  not  the  foreign  messengers  appeal  to 
the  mayor  of  that  city  ? 

10.  Explain  what  is  meant  by  calling  Washington  the 
people's  city.  11.  In  what  "state"  is  Washington  situated? 
On  what  river  is  it  ?  12.  Have  you  ever  been  to  Washington  ? 
If  you  have,  write  a  composition  on  "  My  Trip  to  Washington." 
If  you  have  never  been  there,  tell  what  you  know  of  the  city 
from  the  pictures  you  have  seen  and  the  stories  you  have  read. 

13.  If  the  United  States  should  send  special  messengers  to 
these  countries  to  ask  for  help,  to  what  cities  would  they  go  — 
England,  France,  Spain,  Norway,  Sweden,  Denmark,  Brazil, 
China,  Japan  ?  14.  In  1917  the  United  States  sent  Elihu  Root 
and  several  other  distinguished  citizens  to  Russia  to  see  if  we 
could  be  of  any  assistance  to  the  people  there.  To  what  city  did 
they  go  ?  Do  you  know  for  what  Elihu  Root  was  distinguished  ? 

15.  Who  are  the  two  senators  who  represent  your  state  at 
Washington  ?  16.  What  did  they  do  before  they  became  sena- 
tors ?  17.  Find  out  one  helpful  thing  which  they  have  tried 
to  do  in  the  past  two  years.  18.  The  text  calls  your  senators 
the  people's  representatives.  Explain  what  this  means. 

19.  Often  the  daily  newspaper  will  say,  "To-morrow  the 
Senate  will  vote  on  such  and  such  a  measure."  What  does  vote 
mean  ?  What  does  measure  mean  ?  20.  If  you  belong  to  a 
garden  club  or  a  school  club  of  any  kind,  what  do  you  do 
when  you  vote? 

21.  Who  are  the  men  who  represent  your  district  in  the  House 
of  Representatives  at  Washington?  22.  Have  you  ever  seen 
any  of  these  men  ?  If  so,  describe  them.  23.  Have  you  read 
or  heard  anything  about  them  ?  If  so,  tell  about  it. 

24.  Why  do  we  need  representatives  at  Washington  in  time 
of  war  ?  25.  Explain  why  a  pure-food  law  of  one  state  might 


REPRESENTATIVE  GOVERNMENT  169 

not  prevent  the  people  in  another  state  from  getting  spoiled 
beef  and  adulterated  olive  oil.  26.  What  is  the  Pure  Fo6M  and 
Drugs  Act  ?  27.  Look  on  the  labels  of  bottles  and  cans  which 
you  have  at  home.  Is  anything  said  about  purity  ? 

28.  Who  owns  the  post  office  in  your  town  ?  29.  If  there 
were  post  offices  in  half  the  towns  in  the  United  States  and 
none  in  the  other  half,  what  would  be  the  result  ? 

30.  Why  is  it  that  neither  the  towns  nor  the  states  could 
take  charge  of  the  mails  ?  31.  Explain  how  the  representatives 
at  Washington  have  helped  the  farmers. 

32.  Explain  why  the  representatives  at  Washington  can 
help  save  brooks,  rivers,  and  lakes.  Why  cannot  the  towns  do 
this  ?  33.  How  can  the  nation  be  kept  prosperous  ?  What 
connection  do  smokestacks  have  with  our  prosperity  ? 

34.  How  can  the  representatives  at  Washington  help  the 
children  of  the  nation  ? 

35.  In   every   well-equipped   library   are   several   volumes 
called  "  Readers'  Guide  to  Periodical  Literature.'7   Look  in  the 
recent  volumes  of  this  to  see  if  any  articles  have  been  written 
about  your  senators  and  representatives,  or  by  them.   Make  a 
list  and  bring  it  to  class.    Your  teacher  will  tell  you  how  to 
find  one  of  these  articles. 

36.  How  can  a  newspaper  help  you  decide  whom  to  vote 
for?     37.  If  one  paper  calls  a  man  a  villain  and  another 
calls  him  a  patriot,   what  is  the  matter?    38.   What  news- 
paper do  you  read  ?    39.  Find  out  the  names  of  two  important 
newspapers.    How  much  would  it  cost  to  subscribe  to  one  of 
these  for  a  year  ?    Is  either  of   these  newspapers  in   your 
library  ? 

40.  What  is  the  difference  between  news  and  opinions  ? 
41.  Tell  a  piece  of  news,  then  give  your  opinion  about  it. 
How  does  your  opinion  differ  from  that  of  your  classmates  ? 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE  PRESIDENT  AND  HIS  ASSISTANTS 
The  Kind  of  Men  we  choose  for  President 

1.  In  1814,  at  the  end  of  our  war  with  England,  com- 
missioners for  Great   Britain  and  America  met  in  Ghent, 
Belgium,  to  make  a  treaty  of  peace.    Many  an  evening  the 
British  and  some  of  the  American  ambassadors  gave  up  to 
festivity  and  recreation.    Once  they  returned  to  their  hotel 
in  the  early  hours  of  the  morning,  and  as  they  passed  the 
half-opened  door  of  the  room  occupied  by  one  of  the  Ameri- 
cans  they   saw   him  lighting  the  fire  to  begin  the  day's 
work.    While  they  had  feasted  he  had  slept,  and  while  they 
were  sleeping  he  would  be  hard  at  work.    This  was  John 
Quincy  Adams,  who  eleven  years  later  was  to  become  the 
sixth  president  of  the  United  States. 

2.  A  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives  at  Wash- 
ington in  1848  was  an  old  man  whose  body  was  partially 
paralyzed.    He  was  in  his  seat  promptly  at  the  opening  of 
each  session.    Men  younger  and  stronger  than  he  were  often 
absent,  the  old  man  never.    One  February  day,  just  as  the 
Speaker  was  ready  to  put  a  motion,  the  aged  man  rose  to 
speak,  but  before  he  could  say  a  word  he  swayed  and  fell 
unconscious.    He  had  made  his  last  speech.    In  the  room 
where  his  desk  stood  the  visitor  to-day  will  see  a  circle  of 
metal.    This   old   man  who  worked  for  the  nation  to  the 
day  of  his  death  was  also  the  ambassador  to  Ghent  who 

170 


THE  PRESIDENT  AND  HIS  ASSISTANTS     171 

built  his  fire  in  the  dark  hours  of  the  early  winter  morning, 
John  Quincy  Adams.  After  he  retired  from  the  presidency 
he  was  elected  representative  to  Congress.  Someone  asked 
him  if  he  was  not  degrading  himself  by  taking  a  lesser 
position.  His  answer  was : 

No  one  could  be  degraded  by  serving  the  people  as  a  repre- 
sentative in  Congress.  Nor  in  my  opinion  would  an  ex-president 
of  the  United  States  be  degraded  by  serving  as  a  selectman  of 
his  town,  if  elected  thereto  by  the  people. 

3.  In  the  summer  of  1862  a  young  lawyer  called  to  see 
Governor  Morton  of  Indiana  on  business.  As  he  was  leaving, 
the  governor  remarked  that  he  felt  discouraged.    He  had 
not  been  able  to  raise  as  many  troops  as  President  Lincoln 
expected  him  to  send.    "People  are  following  their  private 
business  and  letting  the  war  take  care  of  itself,"  he  said 
bitterly.    The  young  lawyer  was  poor  and  had  a  family  to 
support.    He  hesitated  for  a  moment,  then  said,  "  I  will  go, 
if  I  can  be  of  service,  Governor."   From  this  interview  he 
went  directly  to  his  office,  hung  out  the  Stars  and  Stripes, 
and  began  at  once  to  get  men  to  form  a  company.     This 
lawyer  was  Benjamin   Harrison,  who  became  the  twenty- 
third  president  of  the  United  States. 

4.  When   the  time  came  to  appoint  a  governor  of  the 
Philippine  Islands,  President  McKinley  sent  an  Ohio  lawyer 
to  fill  the  place.    Ambitious  to  serve  his  country,  the  lawyer 
worked  ceaselessly  to  give  to  the  brown  men  the  same  kind 
of  government  that  the  white  men  of  the  United  States  had. 
One  day  came  a  cablegram  from  Washington  offering  him 
the  position  that  he  had  secretly  coveted  since  his  boyhood 
days  —  a  seat  in  the  Supreme  Court.    No  higher  honor  can 


172  MY  COUNTRY 

come  to  a  lawyer  than  this.  His  friends  expected  him  to 
cable  back,  "  Yes,  thank  you,"  but  the  lawyer  knew  that 
his  task  in  the  Islands  was  not  even  half  completed.  The 
natives  had  confidence  in  him,  and  the  work  was  going  well. 
If  he  left  then,  all  that  he  had  tried  to  do  might  fail.  He 
wrote  the  hardest  sentence  of  his  life,  "No,  thank  you." 
Again  the  President  urged,  again  the  governor  insisted  that  his 


President  Wilson  in  a  Patriotic  Parade 

duty  was  in  the  Islands.  And  there  he  remained  until  the  gov- 
ernment was  firmly  established.  This  was  William  H.  Taft, 
who  later  was  the  twenty-sixth  president  of  the  United  States. 
5.  In  1917  Washington  was  full  of  busy  men.  War  sat 
in  every  office  urging  men  to  impossible  tasks.  The  im- 
portant officials  of  the  government  scarcely  had  time  to  eat 
and  sleep.  One  of  these  officials  on  one  of  his  busiest  days 
called  his  secretary  and  explained  that  early  the  next  morn- 
ing he  would  take  a  flying  trip  to  his  home  in  a  town  more 
than  a  hundred  miles  away.  With  his  secretary  he  made 


THE  PRESIDENT  AND  HIS  ASSISTANTS     173 

the  journey,  rushed  from  the  station  to  a  voting  booth,  back 
to  the  train,  back  to  Washington  to  his  desk.  This  was 
President  Wilson,  the  busiest  man  in  the  United  States. 
Yet  he  had  taken  time  to  do  what  many  a  less  busy  citizen 
sometimes  fails  to  do  —  cast  his  ballot  for  governor  of 

his  state. 

Plain  «  Mr.  President " 

6.  The  American  people  may  well  be  proud  of  the  men 
whom  they  have  chosen  to  preside  over  them.    Never  has 
the  United  States  had  a  lazy  president.    Never  has  it  had 
a  president  who  forgot  that  he  had  come  from  the  people 
and  must  return  to  the  people.    He  is  only  plain  Mr.  Presi- 
dent to  everybody.    Except  in  times  of  war,  when  moments 
are  as  important  as  battles,  the  humblest  citizen  can  go  to 
Washington  to  call  on  the  president.    It  is  not  necessary 
even  to  salute  the  "first  citizen."    As  one  ten-year-old  boy, 
who   with   his   mother   had   an   interview   with   President 
Wilson  before  war  broke  out,  said,  "  All  that  a  fellow  has  to 
do  to  see  the  President  is  to  have  clean  ears,  a  clean  collar> 
and  a  new  pair  of  gloves,  and  go  to  the  White  House." 
But  even  the  gloves  are  not  necessary. 

7.  The  old-fashioned  rulers  that  European  nations  used 
to  have  (and  a  few  modern  nations  still  have)  believed  in 
pomp  and  ceremony.    In  this  way  they  awed  the  people  so 
that  no  common  person  ever  dared  to  appeal  to  his  king 
or  his  queen.    Even  to-day,  in  most  of  the  countries  which 
have  kings  and  emperors,  schoolboys  would  never  think  of 
paying  their  ruler  a  call  to  tell  him  about  their  corn  and 
tomato  crops.     The  American  president  belongs  to  all  the 
people,  to  the  pupil  still  in  school  as  well  as  to  the  men 
and  women  who  help  elect  him. 


174 


MY  COUNTRY 
How  the  President  Lives 


8.  Kings,  queens,  emperors,  and  empresses  live  in  palaces. 
The  German  emperor  in  1917  had  a  huge  palace  and  fifty 
other  palaces  and  castles.  Our  president  has  not  even  one 
palace.  He  lives  in  a  white  house  so  modest  that  a  traveler 
who  was  seeing  America  for  the  first  time  hunted  Washington 


Copr.  Harris  and  Ewing 

The  Modest  Home  of  our  Presidents  —  the  White  House 

over  to  find  it  and  failed.  There  are  scores  of  Americans 
who  live  in  houses  that  are  palaces  in  comparison  to  the 
White  House. 

9.  The  president  is  as  modest  as  the  house  he  lives  in. 
When  he  takes  a  walk  or  goes  for  an  automobile  ride, 
there  is  no  excitement.  His  car  looks  like  hundreds  of 
other  cars.  No  policemen  or  soldiers  in  uniform  canter 
before  him.  He  wears  no  glittering  uniform,  no  sword,  no 
brass  buttons.  This  has  disappointed  many  visitors  who 


THE  PRESIDENT  AND  HIS  ASSISTANTS     175 

think  that  the  president  of  the  greatest  nation  of  the 
world  should  live  in  great  magnificence  and  style.  There 
is  something  more  impressive  than  pomp  and  glitter.  One 
does  not  need  to  be  a  king  to  be  kingly.  One  does  not 
need  to  wear  a  clanking  sword  to  be  president. 


One  of  the  Palaces  of  the  King  of  Spain 


The  Dignity  of  the  President 

10.  There  is  a  dignity  about  the  president  that  plain 
clothes  and  simple  manners  cannot  hide.  He  has  worked 
his  way  up  the  American  ladder  of  success  step  by  step.  He 
has  suffered  hardships  and  disappointments,  but  he  has  never 
been  discouraged.  He  has  been  educated  in  a  free  country; 
he  has  helped  day  by  day  to  build  up  his  town  and  his  state. 
He  has  feared  neither  poverty  nor  tyranny,  and  he  carries 
in  his  face  the  look  of  the  free  man  who  has  won  success 


176  MY  COUNTRY 

and  the  greatest  honor  that  can  come  to  an  American  — 
the  confidence  of  the  people.  It  is  because  he  represents 
and  serves  millions  of  free  people  that  he  has  the  dignity 
which  commands  the  respect  even  of  emperors  and  kings. 

The  Power  of  the  President 

11.  The  president  of  the  United  States  has  more  power 
than  the  king  of  England,  but  every  bit  of  this  is  given  him 
by  the  people.    Power  is  a  dangerous  gift  to  place  in  the 
hands  of  anyone.    But  the  people  are  jealous  of  their  rights 
and  do  not  intend  that  a  president  shall  ever  become  a 
tyrant.    One  way  that  the  people  have  taken  to  keep  presi- 
dents from  misusing  their  power  is  to  allow  them  to  serve 
only  a  short  time.    They  are  chosen  for  only  four  years.    Even 
if  the  people  should  make  a  mistake  and  choose  the  wrong 
man,  he  could  not  do  much  harm  in  so  short  a  time.    Some- 
times a  president  is  reflected  for  a  second  four  years,  but 
this  has   happened   only  when   the   people  have   had   the 
greatest  possible  confidence  in  him. 

The  President  is  a  Leader 

12.  The  chief  task  of  the  president  is  to  represent  the 
people.    But  the  nation  expects  even  more  than  this  of  him. 
In  one   of  his  war  messages  President   Wilson  used  this 
sentence :  "  It  is  a  fearful  thing  to  lead  this  great  peaceful 
people  into  war." 

13.  It  is  the  word  "lead"  that  is  important  here.    Our 
presidents  are  our  leaders.    Every  group  of  people  from  a 
handful  of  boys  at  play  to  our  largest  city  has  a  leader. 
When  asked  to  tell  what  a  leader  was,  a  young  schoolboy 


THE  PEESIDENT  AND  HIS  ASSISTANTS     177 

answered  "  a  boss,"  which  was  of  course  a  wrong  answer. 
A  leader  is  a  person  who  shows  the  way  and  himself  goes 
ahead.  A  boss  drives,  a  leader  leads. 

14.  No  man  in  the  country  has  greater  influence  than 
the  president.    He  cannot  make  laws,  but  he  can  suggest 
laws  which  should  be  made  and  can  veto  those  which  he 
thinks  are  harmful.    Every  year,  when  Congress  assembles 
in  December,  he  either  sends  or  reads  a  message  to  senators 
and  representatives.    This  message  is  a  kind  of  report.    He 
tells  what  has  been  accomplished  in  the  preceding  year  and 
suggests  things  which  should  be  done  in  the  coming  year. 
If  crops  have  been  poor  or  if  there  have  been  many  strikes, 
he  mentions  these  facts  and  suggests  what  Congress  can 
do  to  relieve  present  distress  and  to  prevent  recurrences  of 
trouble.    President  Eoosevelt   in  one   of  his  messages  ex- 
plained to  Congress  how  the  great  desert  stretches  in  Ari- 
zona, New  Mexico,  and  other  Western  states  could  be  re- 
claimed.  He  not   only  explained  this  in  his  message  but 
used  his  influence  to  have  members  of  Congress  pass  a  law 
to  allow  the  government  to  turn  these  deserts  into  fertile 
acres.    Because  of  what  he  did  to  arouse  the  people  to  the 
necessity  of  transforming  as  much  of  our  desert  wastes  as 
possible,  Eoosevelt  has  been  called  our  "irrigation"  presi- 
dent.   Your  textbook  in  history  will  show  many  other  ways 
in  which  our  presidents  have  been  our  leaders. 

Why  the  President  can  be  a  Safe  Leader 

15.  The  president  could  not  be  a  safe  leader  unless  he 
knew  what  was  happening  in  all  parts  of  the  world.    He  is 
assisted  in  keeping  in  touch  with  events  by  ten  secretaries, 


178 


MY  COUNTRY 


who  are  much  like  the  assistant  managers  of  a  great  busi- 
ness. Each  secretary  has  definite  duties,  and  makes  frequent 
reports  to  the  president.  One  attends  to  the  business  with 
foreign  countries  (the  Secretary  of  State  —  "State"  here 


copr.  IBMOMUMM!  i'ilm 
Our  "  Irrigation  "  President  —  a  Man  of  the  People 

means  the  nation) ;  another  attends  to  the  money  affairs 
of  the  nation  (the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury) ;  a  third  super- 
vises the  affairs  of  the  army  in  time  of  peace  and  also  of 
war  (the  Secretary  of  War) ;  the  fourth  has  charge  of  the 
affairs  of  the  navy  (the  Secretary  of  the  Navy) ;  one  is  a 


THE  PKESIDENT  AND  HIS  ASSISTANTS     179 

lawyer  who  protects  the  United  States  from  lawbreakers 
and  sees  that  all  the  affairs  of  the  government  are  conducted 
according  to  law  (the  Attorney-General) ;  another  is  gen- 
eral business  manager  of  the  Post-Office  Department  (the 
Postmaster  General) ;  the  seventh  attends  to  a  variety  of 
things  —  pensions  for  soldiers,  Indian  affairs,  the  patent 
department,  the  national  parks,  education,  Alaska  and  the 
territories,  the  vast  forest  reservations  and  irrigation  works, 
etc.  (the  Secretary  of  the  Interior) ;  the  eighth,  one  of  the 
most  important  of  all,  must  do  everything  possible  to  increase 
the  agricultural  wealth  of  the  country  (the  Secretary  of  Agri- 
culture) ;  the  ninth  attends  to  the  trade  problems  of  the 
country  (the  Secretary  of  Commerce) ;  the  tenth  spends  all 
his  time  in  the  interest  of  the  wage-earner  (the  Secretary 
of  Labor). 

The  President's  Cabinet 

16.  These  secretaries  are  called  the  president's  Cabinet. 
They  hold  regular  meetings,  often  once  a  week,  to  talk  over 
with  the  president  and  with  each  other  the  most  important 
business  of  the  country.    At  one  Cabinet  meeting  all  that 
these  busy  men  talked  about  was  the  potato.    What  in- 
terests the  Cabinet  is  what  concerns  the  people,  and  the 
Department  of  Agriculture  had  collected  figures  to  show  that 
our  potato  crop  was  not  as  large  as  it  should  be.    One  result 
of  this  meeting  was  the  appointment  of  a  potato  expert,  who 
now  gives  his  whole  time  to  inspecting  and  testing  potatoes 
and  soils  and  to  showing  farmers  how  to  improve  their  crops. 

17.  The  president  and  his  Cabinet  are  much  like  the 
manager  and  his  assistants  in  a  great  business  house.    All 
their  time  must  be  given  to  the  stupendous  task  of  managing 
the  affairs  of  a  nation. 


180  MY  COUNTRY 

The  President  has  Assistants  in  Every  Foreign  Nation 

18.  The  president  has  other  assistants,  called  ambassadors, 
ministers,  and  consuls,  in  every  foreign  nation.    Through 
the  Secretary  of  State  they  report  to  the  president  on  what 
is  taking  place  in  the  great  outside  world.    The  president 
must  lead  his  own  people  not  only  in  matters  that  concern 
the  relation  of  one  town  and  state  to  another  but  in  all 
dealings  with  other  countries.    He  can  do  this  better  than 
anyone  else  because  he  knows  what  countries  are  friendly 
to  us,  which  ones  misunderstand  us,  and  the  reasons  for 
all  this.   Within  the  walls  of  his  modest  office  in  Washington 
the  president  can  scan  the  whole  world. 

Washington  the  Center  of  the  Nation 

19.  Washington  is  always  the  home  of  a  president.    It  is 
always  the  center  of  the  nation.    Every  person  should  have 
a  page  in  his  account  book  headed  "A  Trip  to  Washington," 
'so  that  some  day  he  can  see  for  himself  where  the  affairs 
of  more  than  one  hundred  million  people  are  attended  to. 

QUESTIONS  AND  PROBLEMS 

1.  Tell  all  that  you  can  about  John  Quincy  Adams. 
2.  Franklin  was  another  famous  American  who  served  his 
country  in  his  old  age.  Can  you  tell  how  he  did  this  ? 

3.  Tell  how  Benjamin  Harrison  served  his  country  as  a 
young  man  and  as  a  middle-aged  man. 

4.  Roosevelt  did  a  great  deal  for  his  country  before  he  was 
president.    Can  you  tell  anything  that  he  did  for  his  city  and 
his  state  ?  You  will  find  a  life  of  him  in  your  library.   5.  Show 
how  Koosevelt  climbed  the  ladder  of  success. 


THE  PRESIDENT  AND  HIS  ASSISTANTS      181 

6.  What  patriotic  thing  did  Taft  do  before  he  became 
president  ? 

7.  What  "duty"  did  President  Wilson  perform  during  his 
busiest  days  in  1917  ?    8.  Would  he  have  been  justified  in 
neglecting  this  ?   Explain  your  answer. 

9.  Tell  some  incident  about  a  president  not  mentioned  in 
the  text  that  shows  his  industry  or  bravery  or  patriotism. 

10.  What  is  meant  by  saying  that  the  president  "comes 
from  the  people  and  must  return  to  the  people  "  ? 

11.  If  you  went  to  Washington  and  wanted  to  see  the 
president,  you  would  have  to  get  your  representative  or  sen- 
ator to  arrange  the  interview.    What  would  you  say  to  the 
president  ?    Would  you  speak  first  ?     12.  If  he   asked  you 
what  the  pupils  of  your  town  were  doing  for  the  country, 
what  would  you  say  ? 

13.  What  is  a  palace  ?  14.  Does  the  president  live  in  a 
palace  ?  15.  What  name  is  sometimes  given  to  the  president's 
house  ?  16.  Describe  it. 

17.  Explain  why  the  text  calls  the  president  modest. 
18.  What  is  dignity?  19.  Why  do  all  our  presidents  have 
great  dignity  ?  20.  A  prominent  Englishman,  who  was  visit- 
ing the  United  States  for  the  first  time,  ssid;  "I  have  seen 
your  president,  your  senators,  your  business  men,  your  private 
citizens.  You  have  one  man  that  you  call  president,  but  I  see 
hundreds  of  presidents  on  your  streets."  What  do  you  think 
he  meant? 

21.  If  "power  is  a  dangerous  gift,"  why  are  the  people  safe 
in  giving  so  much  to  their  president  ? 

22.  What  is  a  leader?    23.  Five  of  our  presidents  led  the 
people  into  war.    Can  you  tell  who  these  were  ? 

24.  Explain  how  the  president  is  helped  by  his  Cabinet. 
25.  What  are  the  names  of  the  members  of  the  present 


182  MY  COUNTRY 

Cabinet  ?    26.  Do  you  know  any  one  thing  which  any  one  of 
them  has  done  ? 

27.  The  president  has  many  duties  not  mentioned  here. 
Can  you  name  several  (see  Appendix,  p.  377)? 

28.  How  do  ambassadors  and  consuls  help  the  president  in 
leading  the  nation  ?    29.  Who  is  our  present  ambassador  or 
minister  to  England,  France,  Italy,  China  ?    (You  will  find 
this  information  in  the  latest  edition  of  the  "  Congressional 
Directory,"  and  also  in  the  "  World  Almanac,"  both  of  which 
publish  a  new  edition  each  year.    Your  library  should  have 
copies  of  both.) 

30.  Tell  in  what  way  the  president  is  like  the  governor  of 
your  state.  Can  the  governor  make  laws?  31.  The  governor 
can  veto  laws  and  so  can  the  president.  How  can  a  law  that 
has  been  vetoed  still  "pass"  ?  (See  Appendix,  pp.  375,  378.) 

32.  Write  a  composition  entitled,  "What  I  would  do  if 
I  were  President."  First  choose  some  president  and  learn  all 
that  you  can  about  his  term  of  office  from  your  history  text- 
book, the  encyclopedia,  and  any  other  books  available. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

RULES,  REGULATIONS,  AND  LAWS 
What  happens  when  a  Rule  is  Broken 

1.  In  the  rooms  of  the  Historical  Society  at  Philadelphia 
are  many  priceless  relics  of  Revolutionary  days.    One  of 
these  is  a  copy  of  the  first  newspaper  in  which  the  Decla- 
ration of  Independence  was  printed.    A  curious  thing  about 
the  room  in  which  this  paper  and  other  old  papers  and  books 
are  kept  is  the  sign  on  the  walls,  "  Fountain  Pens  may  not 
be  used  in  this  Room."    A  man  one  day  asked  to  see  this 
valuable  newspaper.    He  had  read  the  sign,  but  he  failed  to 
see  what  harm  a  fountain  pen  could  do,  so  he  pulled  his  out 
and  began  to  write.    Because  the  ink  came  slowly  he  gave 
the  pen  a  shake,  and  a  great  splash  fell  on  the  newspaper, 
almost  obscuring  some  of  the  print.    Nothing  can  remove 
this  blot  —  the  paper  is  too  fragile  to  be  treated  with  any 
of  the  chemical  ink-removers.    Until  the  paper  crumbles, 
this  blot  will  tell  the  story  of  a  man  who  disobeyed  a  rule. 
What  do  you  think  of  such  a  person  ?   Does  he  not  deserve 
our  contempt  ?   WTiy  did  he  not  obey  the  printed  warning  ? 

2.  He  probably  thought  the  rule  was  unnecessary.    Most 
rules  have  a  common-sense  reason  back  of  them  even  if  we 
do  not  at  first  see  it.    The  persons  in  charge  of  the  Histori- 
cal Society  rooms  knew  that  fountain  pens  were  sometimes 
leaky  and  bothersome.    They  were  trying  to  protect  priceless 
treasures.   Rules  are  not  made  to  hinder  people,  but  to  help. 

183 


184  MY  COUNTRY 

If  this  man  had  taken  the  trouble  to  ask  an  attendant  why 
he  could  not  use  his  pen,  he  would  have  seen  at  once  how 
reasonable  the  rule  was. 

A  Rule  that  protects  Valuable  Things 

3.  One  of  the  great  government  buildings  at  Washington 
that  every  pupil  hopes  some  day  to  see  is  the  Congressional 
Library.    On  its  walls  are  over  five  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars' worth  of  magnificent  paintings.    When  a  person  enters 
he  sees  a  large  sign,  "All  Umbrellas  and  Canes  must  be 
Checked."   Here  you  are  not  left  to  obey  the  rule  or  not  as 
you  please,  —  a  man  in  uniform  stands  at  each  door  to  pre- 
vent you  from  disobeying  it.    You  can  easily  understand 
why  the  library  authorities  would  not  want  wet  umbrellas 
carried  about,  but  what  harm  could  a  dry  umbrella  or  a  cane 
do  ?    Although  the  attendants'  business  is  to  enforce  the 
rule,  not  to  explain  it,  they  occasionally  take  time  to  say 

.that  on  one  of  the  upper  floors  is  a  painting  inlaid  with 
beautiful  mosaics.  So  many  people  had  poked  at  the  picture 
with  umbrellas  and  canes  that  the  pieces  of  mosaic  were 
being  loosened.  A  sign  was  placed  near  the  painting,  warn- 
ing visitors  not  to  touch  it,  but  this  did  little  good.  Finally 
the  library  authorities  decided  that  the  only  way  to  enforce 
the  rule  was  to  keep  umbrellas  and  canes  out. 

Carelessness  and  Thoughtlessness  make  Rules  Necessary 

4.  The  man  with  the  fountain  pen  and  the  men  and  women 
with  umbrellas  and  canes  were  not  ignorant.  They  were  care- 

\  less  and  thoughtless.    But  carelessness  and  thoughtlessness 
will  often  do  as  much  harm  as  ignorance  or  maliciousness. 


KULES,  KEGULATIONS,  AND  LAWS          185 

A  poke  from  the  umbrella  of  a  thoughtless  person  will  spoil  a 
painting  as  quickly  as  a  poke  given  by  someone  evil  enough 
to  want  to  injure  it.  Whether  a  boy  drops  a  valuable  vase 
through  carelessness  or  because  he  wants  to  destroy  it  for 
spite,  the  result  is  the  same.  A  person  who  is  thoughtless 
enough  to  throw  a  lighted  match  near  a  gasoline  tank  is  as 
sure  to  cause  an  explosion  as  the  person  who  intentionally 
starts  a  fire  near  gasoline.  Because  there  are  so  many  careless, 
thoughtless  people,  we  have  to  have  a  great  many  rules. 

Some  Rules  prevent  Epidemics 

5.  You  would  be  astonished  to  discover  how  many  rules 
every  town  and  city  has.  We  usually  call  such  rules  laws,1 
but  "  law  "  is  only  another  name  for  rule.  One  rule  that  you 
all  know  about  is  connected  with  certain  kinds  of  sicknesses. 
If  a  pupil  has  scarlet  fever  or.  diphtheria,  or  any  other  conta- 
gious disease,  he  must  stay  at  home  and  see  no  one  but 
the  nurse  and  doctor  until  he  is  perfectly  well  again.  Some- 
times a  boy  will  have  such  a  light  case  of  scarlet  fever  that 
he  is  not  kept  hi  bed.  He  does  not  see  why  he  cannot  go 
outdoors  to  play.  But  there  is  a  rule  that  not  until  a 
patient's  skin  stops  "scaling"  can  he  go  out  among  others 
or  can  others  come  to  him.  The  reason  for  this  rule  is  that 
the  bits  of  skin  may  contain  the  germs  of  scarlet  fever. 
Even  if  the  boy  is  not  very  ill  himself,  another  person  may 
contract  a  deadly  form  of  the  disease  by  breathing  in  or 
swallowing  one  of  these  tiny  scales.'  So  even  if  neither  the 
boy  nor  his  parents  understand  the  reason  for  this  rule,  it  is 
for  the  good  of  all  their  friends  and  neighbors  that  they  obey  it. 

1  The  special  name  for  them  is  ordinances. 


186  MY  COUNTRY 

6.  At  one  time  in  a  crowded  suburb  of  a  city  several 
children  were  ill  with  diphtheria.     The   doctors  had  red 
warning  signs  tacked  on  the  doors  of  these  houses.    They 
also  warned  the  families  that  neither  the  sick  children  nor 
anyone  who  had  been  exposed  to  the  disease  should  leave 
their  homes  until  further  notice.    But  the  relatives  of  the 
sick  children  went  to  work  and  to  school  as  usual.    When 
the  townspeople  learned  this,  policemen  were  sent  to  guard 
the  houses  and  to  enforce  the  rule.    If  this  had  not  been 
done,  the  disease  might  have  spread  to  hundreds  of  people. 
As   in   this   case,   it   is   often   necessary   to   make    people 
obey  rules. 

Rules  are  Helps 

7.  There  are  several  other  words   that  might   be  used 
instead  of  "  rules  "  or  "  laws."    One  of  these  is  "helps."    Most 
rules  are  intended  merely  as  helps.    In  one  school  this  rule 
is  written  on  the  blackboard  of  each  room: 

When  Entering  or  Leaving  the  School,  Pupils 

must  move  in  Single  File.    There  must  be  No 

Crowding  or  Pushing  on  the  Stairs 

The  only  reason  for  this  rule  is  to  help  the  pupils.  It  was 
found  that  when  they  did  not  go  in  single  file,  they  could 
not  go  so  quickly.  Before  this  rule  was  made,  the  younger 
children  were  often  tripped  by  the  older  pupils,  who  crowded 
past  them  in  a  hurry  to  get  to  their  seats  first. 

8.  In  every  part  of  the  United  States  there  is  a  very 
helpful  rule.     This  is  that  all  persons  and  vehicles  must 
keep  to  the  right  when  they  meet  other  persons  or  vehicles, 
and  to  the  left  of  those  which  they  overtake  and  pass.    If 
we  did  not  have  such  a  rule,  thousands  of  persons  would  be 


RULES,  REGULATIONS,  AND  LAWS          187 

accidentally  killed  every  year.  As  it  is,  many  accidents 
occur.  But  suppose  that  there  were  no  such  rule.  On  a 
narrow  road  or  crowded  street  if  two  automobiles  were  hur- 
rying in  opposite  directions,  neither  could  tell  which  way 


City  Streets  would  be  a  Hopeless  Tangle  were  it  not  for  the 
"  Keep  to  the  Right "  Rule 

the  other  would  turn.  They  would  have  to  slow  down  and 
signal  to  each  other.  Even  then  one  might  misunderstand 
the  signal.  It  is  a  great  time-saving  and  accident-saving  help 
to  have  as  a  rule  of  the  road,  "Keep  to  the  right."  In 
Canada  and  England  the  rule  is  "Keep  to  the  left." 


188  MY  COUNTRY 

Homes  have  Rules 

9.  In  most  homes  you  will  not  see  printed  rules  tacked 
on  doors  or  walls,  but  nevertheless  rules  are  observed  there. 
When  each  person  gets  up  in  the  morning  he  strips  his  bed 
and  sees  that  the  windows  are  open  wide  —  this  is  a  rule. 
Breakfast,  dinner,  and  supper  all  come  at  certain  times  — 
more  rules.  At  the  table  each  person  waits  until  he  is  served 

—  another  rule.  All  these  rules  are  useful  to  every  member 
of  the  family.  Suppose  that  the  fifteen-year-old  member  of 
this  family  wanted  his  supper  at  five  o'clock  instead  of  at 
six.  Either  he  would  have  a  poor  supper  or  those  who  ate 
at  six  o'clock  would  have  an  unsatisfactory  meal.  Vegetables 
that  are  just  right  at  five  o'clock  cannot  be  just  right  at 
six  o'clock.  Meat  that  is  being  cooked  for  a  six-o'clock 
supper  will  not  be  ready  to  serve  at  five  o'clock. 

Even  Persons  who  live  alone  have  Rules 

10.  Although  many  persons  are  not  well  enough  acquainted 
with  themselves  to  know  it,  everybody  likes  the  help  of  rules. 
Even  men  who  live  alone  make  rules  for  themselves.  A  col- 
lege  student  who   was  tramping   through   Oregon   for  his 
health  lost  his  way  and  wandered  about  for  days  in  a  large 
mountain  forest.    He   finally  came   upon  a  hut  in   which 
lived  an  old  man.    For  three  years  this  man  had  not  seen 
a  human  being.    His  nearest  neighbor,  he  said,  was  forty 
miles  away.    There  were  no  people  and  no  rules  or  laws  to 
curtail  his  liberty.    But  strange  to  say,  stuck  in  the  frame 
of  the  cracked  mirror  was  a  piece  of  paper  on  which  the 
hermit   had    carefully   written,   in  bold  black   letters,  the 
following  sentences: 


RULES,  REGULATIONS,  AND  LAWS          189 

KULES  FOR  THIS  WEEK 

1.  Read  one  good  poem  every  day. 

2.  Improve  my  cabin  a  little  every  day. 

3.  See  one  beautiful  sight  each  day. 

4.  Be  sure  to  take  a  bath  every  morning. 

5.  Drink  only  one  cup  of  coffee  a  day. 

6.  Do  a  little  mending  every  day. 

11.  When  the  young  man  spoke  about  these  rules  the 
hermit  replied :    "  I  found  the  rules  of  towns  irksome.    I 
wanted  to  be  free,  so  I  came  up  here.    It  seemed  like  heaven 
at  first.     But  I  soon  found  that  I  neglected  to  clean  my 
cabin.    Holes   came  in  the  roof.    I  worked   a  little  when 
I  felt  in  the  mood,  but  some  of  my  dishes  were  always 
dirty.    My  clothes  were  always  frayed  somewhere.    I  even 
neglected  to  bathe  every  day.    After  a  time  I  came  to  my 
senses  and  realized  that,  unless  I  wanted  to  become  a  mere 
animal,  I  must  make  rigid  rules  for  myself  and  live  by  them. 
Now  I  get  up  at  sunrise  no  matter  what  the  weather.    I 
never  miss  my  cold  bath.    I  wash  every  board  in  these  two 
rooms  with  warm  water  and  soap  each  day,  and  also  do  some 
simple  thing  that  will   make  the  cabin  stronger  and  more 
homelike.   No  city  house  has  more  convenient  little  devices 
than  this  now  has.    Some  of  the  rules  I  change  each  week. 
Last  week  my  first  rule  was  '  Read  a  good  story  every  day.' 
Soon  I  shall  add  a  seventh  rule :  *  Cut  a  little  firewood 
every  day,'  for  I  must  begin  on  my  winter's  supply." 

Washington  and  Franklin  were  helped  by  Rules 

12.  When  Washington   and  Franklin  were  young  they 
felt  the  need  of  rules.    In  his  notebook  Washington  copied 
down  one  hundred  and  ten  "Rules  of  Civility  and  Decent 


190  MY  COUNTEY 

Behavior  in  Company  and  Conversation."  He  did  not  make 
these  for  himself,  but  gathered  them  from  various  sources, 
From  all  that  we  can  learn  now,  he  tried  to  use  these 
merely  as  helps.  Most  of  them  make  very  good  rules  for  us 
to  go  by  to-day.  Here  are  two : 

When  you  meet  with  one  of  greater  quality  than  yourself, 
stop  and  retire,  especially  if  it  be  at  a  door  or  any  straight 
place,  to  give  way  for  him  to  pass. 

Make  no  show  of  taking  great  delight  in  your  victuals  ;  feed 
not  with  greediness  ;  lean  not  on  the  table  ;  neither  find  fault 
with  what  you  eat. 

13.  Some  of  the  interesting  and  helpful  rules  that  Franklin 
tried  to  live  by  are : 

Drive  thy  business,  let  not  that  drive  thee. 
Never  leave  till  to-morrow  what  you  can  do  to-day. 
Keep  thy  shop,  and  thy  shop  will  keep  thee. 

Another  Name  for  Rules  is  Regulations 

14.  Still  another  name  for  rules  is  "  regulations."    All  fac- 
tories, stores,  railroads,  and  offices  have  to  have  regulations. 
At  one  of  the  largest  shoe  factories  in  the  country  the  great 
gate  is  shut  arid  locked  exactly  at  7.30  every  morning.   No 
employee  who  is  outside  the  gate  at  7.31  can  enter  at  all 
that  morning.  And  of  course  he  loses  a  half-day's  pay.    This 
seems  a  harsh  rule,  but  the  managers  found  that  without  it 
sometimes  a  third  of  the  machines  would  be  idle  for  the  first 
half  hour.    This  meant  that  about  one  thousand  fewer  shoes 
would  be  made  than  when  all  the  employees  began  work 
promptly  at  7.30.    The  factory-owners  have  to  know  exactly 
how  many  thousand  pairs  of  shoes  they  can  turn  out  in  a 


KULES,  REGULATIONS,  AND  LAWS 


191 


day.  Otherwise  they  cannot  keep  their  promises  to  the 
dealers.  And  broken  promises  will  spoil  any  business.  It  is 
therefore  for  the  good  of  the  factory  that  every  worker  be 


Five  Minutes  Late.   They  lose  a  Half -day's  Pay 

at  his  machine  on  time.  It  is  also  to  the  advantage  of  the 
worker,  for  each  additional  hour  of  work  means  money  in 
his  pay  envelope. 

15.  No  business  house  can  long  prosper  without  regulations 
of  the  right  kind.    Suppose  the  only  rule  of  an  office  is  that 


192  MY  COUNTRY  , 

all  employees  must  work  eight  hours  a  day.  Nothing  is  said 
about  when  they  shall  begin  work.  Perhaps  one  stenogra- 
pher likes  to  lie  abed  mornings,  and  does  not  appear  at  the 
office  until  ten  o'clock,  while  the  man  whose  letters  she 
writes  gets  in  at  eight.  The  telephone  girl  may  prefer  not 
to  work  mornings  at  all,  but  is  perfectly  willing  to  stay  at 
the  office  from  twelve  until  eight  in  the  evening.  But 
everybody  else  leaves  at  five,  so  for  three  hours  this  girl  has 
nothing  to  do.  Such  an  office  would  always  be  topsy-turvy. 

16.  To  prevent  such  an  unpleasant  situation  all  offices 
have  certain  rules,  or  regulations,  which  employees   must 
observe.     Schools  also  have  similar  regulations.     If  pupils 
could  come  to  school  at  any  time  of  day,  there  would  be 
hopeless  confusion  and  waste  of  time  and  money.    Perhaps 
the   arithmetic  class   recites  at  ten  o'clock  every  morning. 
If  some  pupils   should  not   come  to  school  until   eleven, 
either  they   would   miss  the  arithmetic  altogether   or  the 
lesson  would  have  to  be  repeated  for  them.     Anyone  can 
readily  see  that  school  must  begin  for  all  pupils   at  the 
same  time  and  that  classes  must  come  at  specified  hours. 
Not  to  have  regulations  would  be  the  height  of  folly. 

17.  Railroad  time-tables  are  merely  sets  of  regulations. 
If  you  wish  to  go  to  a   certain  town,  you  must  take  the 
trains  that  are  indicated  on  the  time-table.    You  can  go  only 
at  the  stated  times  —  not  when  you  please.    Neither  can  the 
engineers  and  conductors  start  their  trains  only  when  they 
please.    The  railroad  managers  have  drawn  up  a  set  of  rules 
for  engineers  and  all  other  trainmen  and  for  all  passengers 
to  go  by.    The  figures  of  the  time-tables  are  merely  a  short- 
ened form  of  these  rules.    Hopeless  confusion  and  hundreds 
of  accidents  would  result  without  such  rules,  or  regulations. 


KULES,  REGULATIONS,  AND  LAWS          193 

No  Person  is  above  the  Law 

18.  Every  American  believes  in  the  "square  deal."  That 
is,  there  must  not  be  a  rule  for  one  person  and  not  for 
another.    If  we  prevent  one  person  from   spitting   on  the 
street  or  in  public  places,  we  must  prevent  all  persons  from 
doing  it.    There  is  no  person  in  the  United  States  who  is 
above  the  law.    Even  the  president  must  obey  all  the  laws, 
just  as   the   humblest  person  must.     When  he  visits  the 
Congressional  Library  he  must  have  his  umbrella  checked. 
His  chauffeur  must  turn  to  the  right  whenever  he  meets 
another  automobile.    In  the  army  and  navy,  no  matter  how 
rich  or  famous  a  boy's  father  is,  the  boy  must  obey  the 
same   rules    as  the  boys    whose    fathers    are   humble   and 
obscure.     In   the    Great   War    the    sons    of   three   of    our 
presidents  and  many  young  men  who  were  heir  to  millions 
fought  side  by  side  with  poor  boys  and  obeyed  the  same 
rules. 

19.  General  Grant  was  in  New  York  City  at  one  time 
when  a  great  fire  started  in  the  business  section.    Scores  of 
fire  engines  and  hundreds  of  firemen  were  rushed  to  the 
scene.    Many  people  came  to  look  on,  but  the  police  roped 
off  a  danger  zone  and  allowed  no  one  to  pass  through  it. 
Grant  was   one   of  the  watchers.    In  his   interest   in  the 
battle  between  men  and  fire  he  walked  under  the  ropes, 
nearer  to  the  firemen.    A  policeman  took  him  by  the  arm 
and  brusquely  told  him  to  "get  out."   Although  Grant  was 
famous  the  world  over  as  one  of  America's  greatest  gen- 
erals and  had  been  the  country's  president,  he  knew  that 
a  rule  which  applied  to  everyone  else  applied  also  to  him. 
Without  a  word  he  turned  and  walked  away. 


194  MY  COUNTRY 

20.  A  similar  incident  occurred  in  one  of  our  military 
camps  in  1917.    A  newly  enlisted  soldier  was  on  guard  at 
a  certain  building.     His   superior  officer  had  told  him  to 
allow  no  person  to  enter  without  a  written  pass.    During 
the  morning  the  chief  officer  of  the  camp  came  rushing  up 
and  was  half  through  the  doorway  when  the  young  guard 
stopped  him.    "I  am  not  allowed  to  let  anyone  through 
without  a  pass,"  he  explained.    The  officer  blushed,  bit  his 
lip,  then  opened  his  memorandum,  and  made  out  a  pass  for 
himself.    The  guard   then  allowed  him  to  proceed.    Even 
if  the  officer  had  insisted  on  entering  without  a  pass,  the 
young  soldier  would  have  had  no  right  to  disregard  the 
orders  given  him. 

Those  who  enforce  Rules  must  see  that  no  Injustice  is  done 

21.  Those  who  make  the  rules   or  laws  do  not  intend 
that  there  shall  be  any  unfairness,  but  sometimes  those  who 
take  the  part  of  policemen,  guards,  and  the  like  do  not  do 
their  full  duty.    Perhaps  if  the  policeman  had  known  who 
General  Grant  was,  he  would  not  have  warned  him  out  of 
the  fire  zone.     Some  young   soldiers  might  not  have  had 
courage  enough  to  demand  a  pass  of  the  officer.    But  this 
is  not  the  fault  of  the  rules. 

22.  If  the  policeman  at  a  corner  allows  those  who  pass 
him  to   spit  on  the  sidewalk,  he  is  at  fault  and  so  are  the 
persons  who  hired  him.    If  he  "  looks  the  other  way  "  when 
he  passes  a  fire  escape  clogged  with  boxes,  mattresses,  and 
the  like,  he  has  failed  in  his  duty.    An  obstructed  fire  escape 
may  mean  lost  lives.    If  a  conductor  allows  a  drunken  man 
to  ride  on  his  car  he  is  breaking  a  rule,  but  those  who  hired 


RULES,  REGULATIONS,  AND  LAWS 


195 


him  are  also  responsible.  The  chief  of  police  should  dis- 
charge a  policeman  who  fails  to  do  his  duty,  and  the  street- 
car company  should  discharge  employees  who  do  not  enforce 
their  rules.  If  they  do  not,  they  too  are  breaking  rules. 


Some  Policeman  has  not  done  his  Duty.    Littered  Fire  Escapes  are 
against  the  Law 

Laws  are  Necessary  to  protect  Liberty 

23.  Since  so  many  rules  and  laws  are  Don'ts  of  some 
kind,  the  question  has  often  been  asked,  "  If  this  is  a  coun- 
try of  liberty,  why  are  there  laws  ? "  Laws  and  rules  help 
to  secure  liberty  for  the  largest  possible  number  of  people. 
By  having  a  law  to  prevent  stealing  we  are  simply  making  it 
safe  for  all  the  honest  people — and  there  are  far  more  hon- 
est than  dishonest  persons  in  the  world  —  to  own  whatever 
will  add  to  their  usefulness  and  happiness.  Everyone 


196 


MY  COUNTRY 


is  at  liberty  to  do  what  he  pleases,  so  long  as  he  does  not 
harm  himself  or  others.  Greater  liberty  than  this  no  country, 
state,  city,  or  town  can  offer. 

24.  In  New  York  City  one  day  two  foreigners  were 
arrested  for  urging  men  to  disobey  one  of  the  new  rules  of 
the  United  States.  It  was  in  1917,  and  because  a  terrible 


The  Policeman  helps  prevent  Accidents 

enemy  was  threatening  the  whole  nation,  Congress  had  passed 
a  law  that  all  able-bodied  young  men  between  the  ages  of 
twenty-one  and  thirty-one  should  hold  themselves  ready  to 
fight  for  their  country.  The  foreigners  went  about  talking 
to  young  men  as  follows:  "This  is  a  free  country.  You 
should  be  allowed  to  live  your  life  as  you  please.  Your  gov- 
ernment has  no  right  to  make  you  fight  against  your  will. 
Stand  up  for  your  rights." 


KULES,  REGULATIONS,  AND  LAWS          197 

25.  But  one  night,  when  the  two  men  were  addressing 
a  meeting,  some  trouble-makers  started  a  riot.    Chairs  and 
clubs  were  thrown  about,  and  even  the  lives  of  the  two 
speakers  were  in  danger.    One  of  them  managed  to  get  to 
a  telephone,  and  sent  an  urgent  call  to  the  police  to  come 
to  their  rescue  and  arrest  the  rioters.    This  man  probably, 
did  not  realize  what  a  curious   thing  he  was  doing.    For 
weeks  he  had  given  all  his  time  to  urging  others  to  disobey 
the  draft  law;  but  when  his  own  safety  was  threatened  by 
men  who  were  breaking  the  law  that  forbids  rioting,  it  was 
another  story.    You  will  always  find  that  the  person  who 
complains  the  loudest  that  his  liberty  is  being  curtailed  by 
some  law  is  very  anxious  that  all  other  persons  shall  care- 
fully obey  the  laws  which  add  to  his  own  comfort  or  safety. 

26.  It  is  also  well  to  remember  that  most  rules  and  laws 
are  preventives.    One  reason  for  drafting  young  men  into 
the  army  was  to  prevent  a  ruthless  enemy  from  invading 
our  shores   and  .destroying   our  towns.     The   rule   forbid- 
ding overspeeding  by  automobiles  is  to  prevent  accidents. 
The  law  which  requires  a  certain  part  of  a  man's  property 
to  go  to  his  wife  and  a  certain  part  to  his  children,  on  his 
death,  is  to  prevent  quarrels  and  confusion.   Anything  which 
prevents  disaster  or  trouble  adds  to  our  liberty  instead  of 
taking  from  it. 

There  must  always  be  Laws 

27.  Rules   and  laws  are  not  modern  inventions.    They 
are  older  than  any  person  now  living.    There  always  have 
been  and  always  will  be  laws  of  some  kind.     Even  if  you 
tried,  you  could  not  get  away  from  many  of  them.    Suppose 
that  you  were  Robinson  Crusoe  on  an  island,  without  even 


198  MY  COUNTRY 

a  man  Friday.  The  laws  of  heat  and  cold,  work  and  rest, 
health  and  sickness,  would  follow  you  about  from  morning 
till  night.  It  is  a  rule  of  nature  that  if  the  body  gets  too 
cold  it  suffers,  and  that  if  the  cold  is  great  enough  death 
will  result  from  freezing.  Nobody  would  think  of  saying 
that  nature  was  interfering  with  a  man's  liberty  by  making 
it  necessary  for  him  to  protect  his  body  from  cold  and  heat. 
Even  a  Robinson  Crusoe  cannot  escape  nature's  laws. 

Laws  for  One  Hundred  Million  People 

28.  But  the  more  people  there  are  in  the  world,  the 
larger  the  number  of  rules  that  are  necessary.  A  family  of 
two  does  not  need  so  many  rules  as  a  family  of  five.  If  a 
large  number  of  rules  are  needed  to  make  an  office  of 
twenty  people  run  smoothly,  perhaps  you  can  imagine  how 
many  rules  of  various  kinds  are  necessary  for  a  country  of 
one  hundred  million  people  like  the  United  States. 

QUESTIONS  AND  PROBLEMS 

1.  What  is  a  rule  ?    Give  one  rule  that  you  have  learned 
in  arithmetic;  one  that  you  have  learned  in  grammar.    Is  it 
easier  to  solve  examples  with  the  help  of  a  rule  ? 

2.  The  text  says  that  the  purpose  of  most  rules  is  to  help 
people.    If  a  field  in  the  country  has  a  big  sign,  w  Positively 
No  Trespassing,"  tell  how  this  rule  might  really  be  for  the 
good  of  the  man  who  wanted  to  cross  the  field. 

3.  You  probably  often  visit  a  public  library  or  a  museum. 
What  rules  do  these  have  ?   If  they  have  printed  rules,  get 
a  copy  and  bring  to  class.    Tell  which  rules  you  approve, 
which  you  would  change,  and  what  new  ones  you  would  add. 


KULES,  REGULATIONS,  AND  LAWS          199 

4.  Should  a  person  obey  a  rule  even  if  it  does  not  seem 
sensible  ?    Give  reasons  for  your  answer. 

5.  A  great  many  rules  are  necessary  because  people  are 
careless  and  thoughtless.    Tell  about  several  such  rules. 

6.  Find  out  from  your  doctor  what  are  the  diseases  that 
cause  the  board  of  health  in  your  town  or  city  to  quarantine 
a  sick  person.    In  order  to  understand  why  a  certain  disease 
is  included,  find  out  what  causes  the  disease. 

7.  One  rule  of  our  army  is  that  every  soldier  must  obey 
his  superior  without  questioning.    Can  you  explain  why  this 
is  a  good  rule  ? 

8.  Prove  that  most  rules  are  only  helps. 

9.  What  are  the  rules  of  your  room  at  school  ?    Write 
these  out  very  neatly  as  a  kind  of  composition.    Make  a  com- 
plete sentence  of  each  rule,  being  careful  of  capitalization  and 
punctuation.    Your  page  may  begin  something  like  this : 

RULES  FOR  ALL  THE  PUPILS  IN  ROOM  10 

1.  Every  pupil  must  be  in  his  seat  by  five  minutes  before  nine. 

2.  All  outside  garments  and  rubbers  must  be  left  in  the  dressing 
room.    If  the  room  is  cold,  pupils  may  wear  their  coats. 

10:  What  rules  do  you  have  to  study  by  ? 

11.  Every  home  has  at  least  a  few  rules.    What  rules  does 
your  home  have  ? 

12.  Your  teacher  will  ask  each  pupil  to  tell  what  is  the 
occupation  of  his  father.    For  each  different  occupation  repre- 
sented some  pupil  will  be  asked  to  find  out  what  are  some  of 
the  rules  of  the  office  or  factory  where  his  father  works. 

13.  The  most  successful  farmers  are  the  ones  who  have  the 
best  rules.   If  you  live  on  a  farm,  make  a  list  of  the  rules  that 
are  necessary  to  make  things  run  smoothly. 


200  MY  COUNTRY 

14.  Most  of  the  men  and  women  that  you  admire  have  one 
or  two  rules  that  have  especially  helped  them.  Can  you  find 
out  what  these  are  ?  Sometimes  such  rules  are  written  in  the 
form  of  mottoes.  15.  What  other  name  is  given  to  a  rule  like 
"  Keep  thy  shop,  and  thy  shop  will  keep  thee  "  ? 

16.  Tell  about  the  Oregon  hermit. 

17 .  What  are  regulations  ?    Explain  how  a  railroad  time- 
table is  a  set  of  regulations. 

18.  Does  your  school  have  any  kind  of  club?    If  it  does,  it 
must  have  a  set  of  regulations.    Tell  what  these  are  and  why 
they  are  necessary. 

19.  Ask  some  boy  or  girl  who  has  a  position  what  rules 
they  have  to  observe. 

20.  Explain  one  way  in  which  the  laws  of  the  United  States 
are  fair.   Can  anyone  live  in  this  country  and  not  obey  the  laws  ? 

21.  Suppose  that  your  father  is  worth  $1,000,000  and  you 
have  enlisted  in  the  army.    If  you  were  told  to  peel  potatoes 
for  dinner,  could  you  refuse  ?    Explain  your  answer. 

22.  The  strictest  rules  ever  made  are  to  be  found  in  the 
army.    Why  is  this  ? 

23.  A  policeman  or  a  military  guard  can  do  favors  for  his 
friends  when  in  plain  clothes.   Then  why  can  he  not  do  favors 
for  them  when  wearing  the  uniform  ? 

24.  How  long  have  there  been  laws  ?  How  long  will  there  be  ? 
Why  ?    25.  What  is  a  law  of  nature  ?  How  old  are  such  laws  ? 

26.  Why  is  it  that  two  people  need  more  rules  or  laws  than 
one  person  ? 

27.  The  American  Indians  had  very  few  laws.    The  Amer- 
ican nation  to-day  has  thousands  of  laws.    Explain  what  this 
difference  means. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE  PEOPLE  GOVEBN  THEMSELVES  BY  MEANS 
OF  LAWS 

1.  You  have   already  been   told  that  there  are  various 
names  for  rules  —  helps,  regulations,  laws.    In  speaking  of 
the  schoolroom,   business   offices,   factories,   and    stores  we 
usually  say  either  rules  or  regulations.    But  when  we  talk 
of  the  rules  that  towns,  cities,  states,  and  the  nation  make, 
we  say  "laws."    Did  you  ever  realize  that  what  we  call 
government  is  built  up  on  laws  ? 

What  Government  Is 

2.  People  write  and  talk  a  great  deal  about  government 
—  the  government  of  the  United  States,  the  government  of 

Kansas,  the  government  of  New  York  City,  etc.  But  if  you 
should  ask  them  just  what  they  mean  by  this  word,  many 
of  them  would  not  know  what  to  say.  The  word  is  a  little 
high-sounding,  but  its  meaning  is  simple.  Government  is 
merely  people  and  their  laws.  Some  of  the  people  make  the 
laws,  others  carry  out  the  laws,  and  all  the  people  are  helped 
in  some  way  by  them. 

A  Large  Army  of  Lawmakers 

3.  It  takes  a  large  number  of  people  to  make  the  laws.    In 
the  towns  and  villages  of  New  England  it  is  all  the  voters, 
in  the  cities  it  is  the  aldermen  or  councilmen,  in  the  states 

201 


202  MY  COUNTRY 

it  is  the  members  of  the  senates  and  the  houses  of  represen- 
tatives, in  the  nation  it  is  the  members  of  Congress.  The 
president,  his  Cabinet,  the  governors  of  the  states,  the 
mayors,  the  trustees,  and  the  selectmen  also  help  to  make 
and  enforce  the  laws. 

All  of  the  People,  as  well  as  Some  of  the  People, 
make  the  Laws 

4.  The  people  of   the  United  States  govern  themselves 
through  representatives,  and  it  is  these  various  representa- 
tives about  whom  we  studied  in  an  earlier  chapter  who  make 
the  laws.    Since  all  the  people  help  to  choose  these  representa- 
tives, it  is  all  the  people  who  make  the  laws.    Remember, 
therefore,  when  you  hear  a  person  complain  because  he  cannot 
leave  his  ash  barrel  out  on  the  sidewalk  as  long  as  he  pleases, 
and  cannot  have  a  bonfire  in  his  back  yard  without  getting 
permission  from  the  fire  department,  that  he  is  really  finding 
fault  with  himself.    If  you  or  your  father  or  mother  think 
that  a  law  should  be  changed,  write  this  out  in  the  form  of 
a  letter  to  your  representative  and  take  it  from  house  to 
house.    Ask  everyone  that  you  know  to  sign  it.    Get  sev- 
eral hundred  names.    Then  send  this  to  your  representative. 
Until  a  person  has  done  as  much  as  this,  he  has  no  right 
to  be  a  grumbler.    Grumblers  are  often  people  who  are  too 
lazy  to  do  their  share  of  the  town's  and  city's  work. 

Carrying  out  and  Enforcing  the  Law 

5.  It  takes  a  large  army  of  people  to  see  that  the  laws  are 
carried  out.   These  have  so  many  different  names  that  we  can- 
not give  them  all  here.  There  are  thousands  of  inspectors  who 


PEOPLE  GOVERN  THEMSELVES  BY  LAWS      203 


go  from  factory  to  factory,  from  store  to  store,  to  make  sure  that 
the  laws  about  fire  escapes,  fire  extinguishers,  hours  of  employ- 
ment, sanitary  arrangements,  and  the  like  are  being  observed. 
Food  inspectors  are  employed 
to  visit  cold-storage  houses, 
markets,  wharves,  stores,  to 
see  that  impure  foods  are  not 
being  sold.  In  most  cities 
every  large  building  has  to 
be  inspected  to  make  sure 
that  it  is  strong  and  safe. 
Eecently  a  brick  apartment 
house  in  Chicago  collapsed 
during  a  heavy  wind.  A 
building  inspector  had  seen 
it  and  "passed"  it,  but  he 
had  not  done  his  work  well. 
The  law  was  all  right,  but 
the  inspector  was  inefficient. 
There  are  school  boards 
whose  whole  time  is  spent 
in  carrying  out  school  laws. 
Perhaps  the  state  has  just 
passed  a  law  that  thrift  must 
be  taught  in  the  grades.  In 
addition  to  their  regular 

work,  therefore,  the  school  board  must  make  a  plan  for  teach- 
ing this  additional  subject.  They  must  decide  whether  they 
will  have  school  banks  or  thrift  clubs  and  what  textbook 
they  will  use.  The  fire  department  carries  out  certain  of  the 
fire  laws ;  the  other  departments  carry  out  other  laws. 


Copr.  Underwood  £  Underwood 

A  Volunteer  Policeman 


204  MY  COUNTRY 

Post-Office  Employees  and  the  Law 

6.  Post-office  clerks  and  postmen  are  known  to  everyone, 
but  how  many  of  you  realize  that  they  are  carrying  out 
certain  laws  ?    There  are  laws  which  require  the  Post-Office 
Department  to   collect  and   deliver  mail  and  packages  to 
every  part  of  the  United  States.    The  man  who  leaves  at 
your  door  a  special-delivery  letter  is  simply  doing  what  the 
law  requires  him  to  do.    Policemen  are  also  employed  to 
carry  out  laws.    They  are  to  keep  the  streets  clear,  to  see 
that  automobiles  do  not  overspeed,  that  school  children  get 
safely  across  the  streets,  that  persons  hurt  on  the  streets  are 
cared  for,  that  thoughtless  boys  do  not  injure  property,  etc. 

Policemen,  Lawbreakers,  and  the  Courts 

7.  Policemen  have  other  special  duties  connected  with  the 
laws.    They  must  arrest  those  who  break  laws.    This  is  only 
a  small  part  of  their  work,  but  an  important  one.    Unfortu- 
nately there  are  many  ignorant  or  mistaken  men,  women, 
and  even  children  who  will  do  things  which  are  harmful  to 
others.    Some  automobilists  are  reckless  enough  to  drive  their 
machines  at  full  speed  through  crowded  streets.   Police  officers 
must  stop  them,  take  their  number,  and  report  them.    Pick- 
pockets, safe  robbers,  apple  stealers,  and  every  other  harmful 
sort  of  person  must  be  prevented  from  doing  further  harm. 

8.  For  several  years  in  one  section  of  New  York  City 
there  were  "  kid  cops,"  boys  and  girls  from  twelve  to  fifteen 
years  of  age  who  helped  the  regular  policemen  keep  order 
and  see  that  the  laws  were  obeyed.    These  young  volunteer 
policemen  were  organized  into  companies  which  had  cap- 
tains, lieutenants,  and  sergeants.     Some  of  their  duties  were 


PEOPLE  GOVERN  THEMSELVES  BY  LAWS      205 

to  help  keep  the  streets  clean,  to  see  that  garbage  cans  were 
in  proper  condition,  and  to  prevent  families  from  placing 
obstructions  on  fire  escapes.  In  many  schools  pupils  have 
been  organized  not  only  into  school  police  squads  but  into 
"make-believe"  towns  and  cities,  which  elect  their  own 
officials.  They  have  even  made  their  own  school  and  play- 
ground "laws"  and  have  helped  the  teachers  to  enforce  them. 


In  This  School  the  Boys  conduct  their  Own  Court 

9.  Courts  have  an  important  work  to  do  in  carrying  out 
and  enforcing  laws.  The  court  must  decide  whether  the  boy 
who  was  caught  with  his  pockets  full  of  apples  stole  them 
or  came  by  them  honestly,  whether  the  man  whom  the 
policeman  arrested  was  the  one  who  robbed  the  safe,  or 
whether  the  policeman  got  the  wrong  man.  The  court  not 
only  has  to  decide  such  things  but  must  see  that  law- 
breakers are  punished.  The  law  whieh  forbids  stealing  tells 
how  thieves  are  to  be  punished.  The  law  which  says  that 


206  MY  COUNTKY 

food  must  not  be  adulterated  tells  how  men  who  mix  sand 
with  sugar  and  sell  spoiled  meats  are  to  be  punished. 
Sometimes  it  is  the  judge  who  decides  whether  or  not  a 
person  is  guilty  of  wrongdoing;  but  whenever  a  person  is 
accused  of  some  grave  offense  such  as  forgery,  bank  robbery, 
killing,  or  treason,  it  is  a  jury  of  twelve  men  that  decides 
whether  the  prisoner  is  guilty. 

Courts  that  settle  Disputes 

10.  Some  courts  have  nothing  to  do  but  decide  about  law- 
breakers, but  there  are  other  kinds  of  courts  whose  business 
it  is  to  explain  and  untangle  the  laws  and  to  settle  dis- 
putes.    Here  are  a  few  of  the  tangles  and  disputes  that 
they  have  to  deal  with: 

1.  A  man  buys  a  house  and  lives  in  it  for  several  years.  Sud- 
denly a  stranger  from  another  part  of  the  country  appears  and 
says  that  the  house  belongs  to  him.  The  two  men  go  to  court 
to  find  out  who  really  owns  the  house.  2.  A  man  dies  and  leaves 
all  his  property  to  his  son.  His  wife  wants  some  of  the  money. 
The  son  refuses  to  give  up  any  of  the  property,  so  they  both 
ask  the  court  to  decide  what  shall  be  done.  3.  A  man  owes  his 
doctor  a  large  sum  of  money.  He  says  that  he  cannot  pay  it. 
The  doctor  thinks  he  can,  so  he  asks  the  court  to  decide  what 
shall  be  done. 

The  Supreme  Court  at  Washington 

11.  Since  it  is  by  means  of  laws  that  we  govern  our- 
selves, it  takes   many   courts  to   explain   and   enforce   the 
thousands    of  different   laws.    There   are   several   different 
kinds  of  courts  in  every  state.    They  are  all  important,  but 
far  more   important  than  these  is  the  Supreme  Court  at 


PEOPLE  GOVERN  THEMSELVES  BY  LAWS      207 

Washington,  which  is  known  all  over  the  world  as  the 
most  remarkable  court  of  its  kind.  When  the  people  find 
that  a  law  works  injustice,  they  can  have  it  carried  to  the 
Supreme  Court  to  be  tested.  The  nine  keen,  patriotic  law- 
yers who  form  this  court  must  study  this  law  carefully 
and  test  it  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  which 
is  the  supreme  law  of  the  land.  If  these  men  find  that  the 
law  does  not  fit  into  the  spirit  of  the  Constitution,  then  it 
becomes  a  dead  law.  Much  of  the  work  of  the  Supreme 
Court  is  that  of  explaining  laws  that  are  not  clearly 
understood. 

Lawyers  and  Newspapers 

12.  Lawyers  and  newspapers  also  help  in  explaining  and 
carrying  out  the  laws.    When  a  man  starts  a  business,  or 
buys  property,  or  makes  a  will,  he  usually  asks  a  lawyer  to 
help  him,  so  that  he  will  not  do  anything  contrary  to  law. 
This   is   sometimes    expensive,   for   the  best  lawyers   often 
charge  large  fees.    But  no  important  piece  of  business  should 
be  undertaken  without  knowing  exactly  what  the  laws  say 
about  it.    Newspapers  frequently  take  pains  to  explain  the 
most  important  new  laws.    For  instance,  when  in  1917  Con- 
gress passed  a  law  placing  a  special  tax  on  candy,  express 
packages,  salaries,  and  many  other  things,  to  raise  money  for 
war  purposes,  most  large  newspapers  in  the  United  States 
published  this  law  in  full.    To  find  out  how  the  tax  affected 
him,  a  person  had  only  to  read  the  newspaper  carefully.    In 
most  large  cities  there  are  legal-aid  societies  which  explain 
the  law  to  people  who  cannot  afford  to  pay  a  lawyer. 

13.  Farm  papers    often    explain    the   laws   which    affect 
farmers,    the   carpenters'   journals  explain  the   laws   which 


208  MY  COUNTRY 

affect  them,  and  so  on.  No  person  should  be  wholly 
dependent  on  a  lawyer.  There  are  books  and  papers  that 
will  give  safe  information.  Get  as  much  as  you  can  from 
these.  Remember  that  every  law  is  printed  and  that  large 
libraries  contain  copies  of  most  of  them. 

Ignorance  and  Laws 

14.  Many  times  in  this  book  you  will  read  how  great  an 
enemy  ignorance  is.    Often  a  man  thinks  that  he  is  unjustly 
treated,  when  the  truth  is  that  most  of  his  troubles  are  due 
to  his  own  ignorance.    The  poorer  a  man  and  his  family 
are,  the  greater  the  harm  ignorance  can  do  them.    If  the 
rich  man  through  ignorance  breaks  a  law  and  is  fined  by 
the  court,  he  quickly  pays  the  fine  out  of  a  full  purse.    The 
poor  man,  however,  may  have  to  borrow  the  money  and  go 
without  an  overcoat  all  whiter.    It  is  therefore  worth  the 
poor  man's  while  to  learn  all  that  he  can  about  the  laws 
and  customs  of  the  town  and  state  in  which  he  lives. 

15.  Ignorance  not  only  costs  the  poor  man  more  money 
than  he  can  afford,  but  it  often  deprives  him  of  comforts 
and  what  people  call  rights.    If  all  the  poor  people  of  a  city 
knew  about  the  laws  that  have  been  made  to  protect  them, 
they  would  have  cleaner,  healthier  houses.    Here  are  a  few  of 
the  many  laws  which  one  large  city  has  to  protect  the  poor : 

1.  The  owner  of  every  tenement  house  shall  provide  there- 
for suitable,  covered,  water-tight  receptacles,  satisfactory  to  the 
board  of  health,  for  ashes,  rubbish,  garbage,  refuse,  and  other 
matter.  No  person  shall  place  ashes,  rubbish,  garbage,  refuse, 
or  other  matter  in  the  yards,  open  areas,  or  alleys  connected 
with,  or  appurtenant  to,  any  tenement  house  except  in  suitable 
receptacles  provided  for  the  same. 


PEOPLE  GOVERN  THEMSELVES  BY  LAWS     209 

2.  ...  The  owner  or  lessee  [of  any  tenement  or  lodging 
house]  shall  well  and  sufficiently  to  the  satisfaction  of  the 
board  of  health  whitewash  and  cleanse  the  walls  and  ceilings 
thereon  at  least  once  every  year  in  April  or  May  ;  and  he  shall 
have  passages  and  stairs  kept  clean  and  in  good  condition. 

3.  Public  halls  and  stairs 
in   all    tenement   houses 
now  existing  or  hereafter 
erected  more  than  three 
stories     in     height,   and 
having  more  than  eight 
suites,  shall  be  provided 
with  proper  and  sufficient 
lights  to  be  kept  lighted 
during  the  night. 

16.  This  city  intends 
that  all  tenement  houses 
shall  have  light  and  air 
and  be  kept  clean  and  in 
good  repair.  If  you  live 
in .  a  house  where  the 
stairways  are  rickety,  the  The  Owner  of'  This  Block  is  breaking 
walls  black  with  dirt,  and  the  Tenement-House  Law 

the  yard  filled  with  rub- 
bish, you  should  at  once  notify  the  board  of  health.  This 
board  will  compel  the  owner  of  the  house  to  live  up  to  the 
law.  If  a  man  writes  to  his  board  of  health  and  gets  no 
reply,  he  should  either  write  a  second  letter  or  ask  his 
minister,  or  his  doctor,  or  a  school-teacher  to  write  for  him. 
Many  a  family  lives  in  a  dirty,  out-of-repair  house  just  be- 
cause it  does  not  know  what  the  law  is.  It  is  a  pity  that 
ignorance  can  keep  so  many  people  uncomfortable. 


210  MY  COUNTRY 

Laws  cannot  enforce  Themselves 

17.  There  is  no  power  in  a  rule  or  law  itself.    As  you 
already   know,  all  laws   must   have   enforcers.    There   are 
two   kinds    of   enforcers  —  those   who   are   hired   for   that 
purpose    (policemen,  inspectors,   guards,    judges,    etc.)    and 
everybody  else.    It  is  this  "everybody  else"  that  is  most 
important. 

Every  Person  a  Policeman  for  One  Person 

18.  "Everybody  else"  is  every  person  outside  a  jail  and  an 
insane  asylum.    It  is  boys  and  girls,  men  and  women.    Each 
person  can  act  as  policeman  to  one  person,  and  that  is  him- 
self.   You  can  and  should  prevent  yourself  from  riding  your 
bicycle  on  the  sidewalk,  from  spitting  in  public  places,  from 
playing   truant,   from   injuring   another   person's   property. 
Even  if  you  are  the  only  person  in  the  park,  you  should  be 
such  a  good  policeman  that  you  will  keep  yourself  from 
throwing  your  newspaper  or  your  banana  skins  on  the  grass. 
You  can,  of  course,  wait  for  the  truant  officer  to  make  you 
go  to  school  or  for  the  policeman  to  prevent  you  from  doing 
any  of  the  many  things  which  are  against  the  law.     But 
the  American  citizen  who  respects  himself  and  is  respected 
by  others  is  the  one  who  makes   himself  respect  all  rules 
and  laws. 

Laws  are  constantly  Changing 

19.  Homes,  businesses,  and  people  are  constantly  changing, 
so  that  rules  and  laws  must  also  be  changed  frequently.  This 
is  one  reason  why  business  firms  have  monthly  committee 
meetings  and  why  city  councils  and  the  state  and  national 
congresses  meet  frequently.   In  some  towns  there  was  once  a 


PEOPLE  GOVERN  THEMSELVES  BY  LAWS      211 


law  that  a  night  watchman  must  pass  through  the  streets 
at  night,  calling  out  each  hour  and  crying,  "All  is  well!" 
But  when  clocks  became  so  cheap  that  every  family  could 
have  one,  and  all  towns 
had  street  lamps,  the 
night  watchman  was 
unnecessary,  and  the 
law  useless.  Since  gas- 
oline was  discovered 
every  state  has  had  to 
make  laws  regulating 
its  use,  in  order  to  pre- 
vent disastrous  fires. 
Automobiles,  likewise, 
have  made  necessary 
dozens  of  new  laws.  In 
our  great-grandmother's 
day  women  worked 
long  hours  in  their 
homes,  but  were  never 
employed  in  factories. 
When  they  began  to 
work  in  factories,  stores, 
and  offices,  then  special 

rules  had  to  be  made  to  protect  them  from  too  low  wages 
and  from  the  deadly  strain  of  too  long  hours  of  labor. 

Our  Future  Lawmakers 

20.  The  pupils  who  are  in  school  to-day  will  in  a  few 
years  be  the  country's  lawmakers.  There  will  be  many  old 
laws  to  discard,  some  to  change,  and  new  ones  to  make.  It 


Copr.  international  Jr'ilm 

Another  Volunteer  Policeman 


212  MY  COUNTRY 

is  necessary,  then,  for  young  people  to  begin  at  once  to 
keep  their  eyes  open.  Remember  that  every  rule  and  law 
should  be  a  help  to  a  large  number  of  people  and  do  an 
injustice  to  nobody.  It  is  not  too  soon  for  all  of  you  to  begin 
planning  what  new  laws  you  will  try  to  make.  Perhaps 
the  following  incident  will  suggest  something  you  can  do 
if  your  fathers  and  brothers,  who  are  already  lawmakers,  do 
not  get  ahead  of  you : 

A  truant  officer  in  a  large  city  reported  to  the  superintendent 
of  schools  that  a  Mrs.  Allen  refused  to  take  her  thirteen-year- 
old  son  out  of  the  mill  and  send  him  to  school.  The  superin- 
tendent sent  for  the  mother  and  asked  her  if  she  did  not  know 
that  she  might  be  arrested  for  disobeying  the  law.  She  was 
pale  and  tired.  She  explained  that  her  husband  was  ill  with 
tuberculosis  and  would  never  be  able  to  earn  his  living  again. 
She  had  three  children,  the  oldest  one  being  the  boy  who  had 
left  school  for  the  mill.  She  herself  was  not  strong  enough  to 
take  care  of  her  house  and  at  the  same  time  earn  the  necessary 
money  for  rent  and  food.  The 'oldest  boy  was  large,  strong,  and 
willing  to  work.  What  right,  she  asked,  had  the  town  to  keep 
the  boy  in  school  and  thus  prevent  the  younger  children  from 
having  enough  to  eat  ? 

21.  The  superintendent  had  to  admit  that  something  was 
wrong.  It  was  not,  however,  the  law  compelling  children 
to  go  to  school.  Another  law  was  needed  in  that  state  and 
all  others.  Children  must  not  go  hungry.  Neither  must 
their  mothers.  Strong  men  and  women  never  grow  up 
from  hungry  children.  The  nation  wants  only  healthy  citi- 
zens. There  ought  to  be  a  law,  therefore,  that  will  require 
towns  and  cities  to  provide  enough  money  to  enable  every 
honest  poor  mother  who  has  children  of  school  age  to  feed 
and  clothe  them. 


PEOPLE  GOVERN  THEMSELVES  BY  LAWS      213 

QUESTIONS  AND  PROBLEMS 

1.  Explain  what  government  is. 

2.  What  is  a  rule  ?  What  is  a  law  ? 

3.  The  text  says  that  it  takes  a  large  number  of  people 
to  make  the  laws.    Why  cannot  a  few  people  do  this  work  ? 

4.  Who  makes  the  laws  for  your  town  or  city  ?    Describe 
one  law  that  your  town  or  city  has  made  during  the  last  year. 
Be  sure  that  your  information  is  correct.    Your  teacher  will 
ask  you  how  you  learned  about  this. 

5.  In  some  states  all  the  laws  which  are  made  at  the  cap- 
itol  begin  with  the  words,  "  Be  it  enacted  by  the  people  of  the 
state  of/7  etc.    Explain  what  this  means,  especially  the  words, 
"  by  the  people." 

6.  Look  through  yesterday's  daily  paper  to  see  if  you  can 
find  any  mention  of  a  new  law  that  has  either  just  been  made 
or  will  probably  be  made  in  any  part  of  the  United  States.   If 
you  find  such  a  news  item,  bring  to  class  either  the  paper  or 
a  copy  of  the  paragraph. 

7.  To  inspect  means  to  "look  at  closely."    Therefore  an 
inspector  is  a  person  who  looks  at  something  with  great  care. 
Why,  then,  is  it  helpful  to  have  food  inspectors  ? 

8.  Almost  every  state  has  many  laws  protecting  the  health 
of  children.   Some  of  these  deal  with  milk.   WTho  inspects  your 
milk  ?    How  does  he  do  this  ?    Whom  should  you  notify  if 
your  milk  is  blue  and  thin  ? 

9.  Did  you  know  that  some  states  have  a  law  forbidding  any 
person  to  put  anything  but  milk  in  a  milk  bottle  ?    We  have 
said  in  the  preceding  chapter  that  most  laws  are  reasonable 
and  helpful.  Show  how  this  law  is  both  reasonable  and  helpful. 

10.  What  does  a  building  inspector  do  ?  11.  How  does  your 
fire  department  carry  out  laws  ?  12.  Explain  how  post-office 
clerks  carry  out  laws. 


214  MY  COUNTRY 

13.  Name  as  many  as  possible  of  the  other  officials  in  your 
town  who  help  carry  out  or  enforce  the  laws. 

14.  What  is  a  lawbreaker  ?    Have  you  ever  seen  such  a 
person  ?    If  so,  tell  about  it. 

15.  People  often  break  laws  through  ignorance.    A  man 
who  had  been  in  this  country  only  a  short  time  earned  his 
living  by  selling  shoe  strings  and  pencils  on  the  street.    One 
day   a   policeman   asked   to  see   his   license   (a   license  is  a 
written  permission  to  sell  something).   The  man  had  none, 
and  did  not  know  what  the  officer  meant.    He  was  arrested 
and  brought  to  court,  where  the  judge  fined  him  five  dollars. 
This  man  did  not  intentionally  break  a  law.    Do  you  know 
any  other  law  which  people  may  break  through  ignorance  ? 

16.  What  does  it  mean  to  "  arrest "  a  person  ? 

17.  What  is  a  pickpocket?    What  is  an  apple  stealer  ?    Is 
there  any  real  difference  between  the  two  ?   18.   Should  a  boy 
or  a  girl  who  steals  apples  be  arrested  ? 

19.  Have  you  ever  been  in  a  court  ?  If  so,  describe  what 
you  saw  and  what  took  place.  20.  If  you  have  never  been  in 
a  court,  have  you  ever  read  about  one  or  seen  one  in  the 
"  movies  "  ?  If  so,  tell  about  this. 

21.  In  what  way  are  courts  necessary  ?  22.  What  do  courts 
do  besides  punish  lawbreakers  ?  23.  Who  are  the  court  offi- 
cials ? 

24.  Suppose  a  boy  runs  away  from  home  and  does  not  return 
for  thirty  years.    No  one  recognizes  him.    His  family  refuse 
to  give  him  the  share  of  his  father's  property  that  he  claims 
belongs  to  him.    How  can  he  prove  that  he  is  the  long-lost  son  ? 

25.  What  is  a  lawyer  ?    26.  How  can  a  lawyer  help  people  ? 
Name  a  famous  president  who  was  a  lawyer.    27.  If  any  boy  in 
your  class  is  planning  to  be  a  lawyer  when  he  grows  up,  ask 
him  to  give  his  reasons  for  choosing  this  occupation. 


PEOPLE  GOVERN  THEMSELVES  BY  LAWS      215 

28.  The  Supreme  Conrt  at  Washington  has  been  called  "  the 
defender  of  the  liberties  of  the  American  people."    Can  you 
tell  why  ? 

29.  How  can  a  good  newspaper  help  a  person  learn  about 
laws  and  what  they  mean  ? 

30.  Show  how  poor  people  often  suffer  simply  because  they 
are  ignorant  of  the  laws  made  to  help  them. 

31.  Will  a  law  enforce  itself  ?    32.  Can  anyone  but  a  police- 
man or  an  inspector  enforce  a  law  ? 

33.  Tell  why  old  laws  sometimes  need  to  be  repealed  and 
new  ones  made.  Ask  your  father  and  mother  if  they  know  of 
any  law  that  should  be  repealed.  34.  Can  you  think  of  any 
stupid  laws  ?  What  should  be  done  about  these  ? 

35.  Who  will  be  the  lawmakers  twenty  years  from  now  ? 


CHAPTER  XV 

PAYING  THE  PEOPLE'S  BILLS 

Where  does  the  City  get  its  Money? 

1.  Who  pays  your   school-teacher,  your   postman,  your 
policeman  ?     Post    offices,    courthouses,    capitol    buildings, 
schoolhouses,  —  all  must  be  heated  and  kept  clean.    Coal, 
soap,  and  scrubwomen  cost  money.    Where  does  the  money 
come  from  ?    Strange  as  it  may  seem,  some  people  do  not 
know.    They  act  as  if  there  were  secret  sources  of  wealth 
to  which  towns,  cities,  and  states  could  go  whenever  money 
was  needed.    Perhaps  they  are  like  a  boy  who  went  to  a 
bank  one  day  and  asked  for  some  money.    Of  course  the 
cashier  asked  him  to  show  his  bank  book.    The  boy  looked 
dismayed.    "All  I  want  is  about  five  dollars,"  he  explained. 
He  was  a  crestfallen-looking  lad  when  he  learned  that  only 
a  person  who  had  put  money  into  the  bank   could  take 
money  out. 

2.  One  day  in  a  city  printing  office  a  new  stenographer 
went  to  the  head  bookkeeper  and  said :  "  I  think  there  must 
be  a  mistake  in  this  bill.    We  charge  only  ten  dollars  a 
thousand  for  a  twenty-four-page  circular.    This  bill  is  made 
out  at  the  rate  of  twelve  dollars  a  thousand.    Shall  I  have 
it  corrected  ? " 

"Oh,  that's  all  right,"  replied  the  bookkeeper.  "Those 
circulars  are  for  the  city,  and  we  always  charge  more  for 
city  work." 

216 


PAYING  THE  PEOPLE'S  BILLS  217 

The  stenographer  asked  why,  and  the  only  reply  she  got 
was,  "The  city  has  money  to  burn."  This  certainly  was  a 
peculiar  answer.  Although  the  bookkeeper  was  a  middle- 
aged  woman  and  had  Lived  in  the  city  all  her  life,  she  did 
not  know  that  she  herself  would  have  to  help  pay  the  extra 
two  dollars.  Perhaps  fewer  people  would  cheat  the  govern- 
ment if  they  understood  that  all  of  the  government's  money 
has  to  come  out  of  the  people's  pockets.  Let  us  see,  in  the  ; 
following  pages,  how  this  bookkeeper  helped  pay  the  city's 
bills. 

Getting  Money  for  the  City  by  Taxes 

3.  Every  person  who  owns  land  or  a  building  or  other 
property  must  pay  the  town  or  city  a  certain  sum  of  money 
once  a  year.    This  money  is  called  a  tax.    Suppose  this  tax 
is  |20  for  every  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  land  or  build- 
ings that  a  person  owns.    Then  if  a  man  has  a  piece  of 
land  worth  $3000  and  a  house  worth  $6000,  he  must  pay 
the  city  $  180.    All  such  money  is  placed  in  a  bank  to  the 
credit  of  the   city.    At  the  end  of  every  week  or  month 
the  city  treasurer  draws  out  some  of  this  money  to  pay  the 
school  janitors,  the  teachers,  the  principal,  the  policemen,  the 
printer,  and  all  other  city  expenses. 

4.  We  have  said  that  the  American  people  believe  in  a 
"square  deal"  for  everybody.     Does  it  seem  fair  to  make 
only  the  people  who  own  property  pay  for  city  or  town 
expenses  ?    A  man  may  own  a  dozen  houses  but  have  no 
children.    Should  he  help  to  pay  for  schools  for  other  people's 
children  ?    Good  streets,  electric  lights,  a  beautiful  public 
library,  large  playgrounds,  benefit  all  the  families  of  a  com- 
munity. Then  should  not  all  the  families  help  pay  for  them  ? 


218 


MY  COUNTRY 


Men  who  own  Houses  and  Men  who  rent  Houses  help  pay 
the  City's  Bills 

5.  Before  wasting  too  much  sympathy  on  the  property- 
owners,  we  would  better  ask  where  the  man  who  owns 
houses  gets  the  money  to  pay  his  taxes.  Perhaps  he  has 
three  houses.  He  lives  in  one  and  rents  the  other  two. 


Copr.  Publishers'  Photo  Service 

This  House  is  taxed  to  help  pay  for  School-teachers 

He  pays  his  tax  out  of  the  rent  which  the  two  houses 
bring  him.  Perhaps  the  Smith  family  lives  in  one  house 
and  the  Jones  family  in  the  other.  Each  family  pays 
him  thirty  dollars  a  month  rent.  This  means  that  in  a 
year's  time  he  is  paid  seven  hundred  and  twenty  dollars 
by  Mr.  Smith  and  Mr.  Jones.  A  part  of  this  money  goes  to 
the  city  treasurer.  So  it  is  really  some  of  Mr.  Smith's  money 
that  helps  pay  the  printer's  bill  and  the  teachers'  salaries. 


PAYING  THE  PEOPLE'S  BILLS  219 

Roomers  and  Boarders  help  pay  the  City's  Bills 

6.  The  bookkeeper  who  told  the  new  stenographer  that 
the  city  had  "money  to  burn"   rooms  at  the   Smiths'  and 
gets  her  meals  with  the  Joneses.    The  four  dollars  a  week 
that  she  pays   for  her  room  helps  pay  the   Smiths'  rent. 
The  six  dollars   that  she  pays  the  Joneses  for  her  meals 
helps  pay  their  rent.     So  part  of  the  bookkeeper's  money 
goes  to  pay  for  the  printing  that  was  done  in  the  office 
where  she  worked. 

Storekeepers  help  pay  the  City's  Bills 

7.  But  there  is  still  another  way  in  which  not  only  the 
owner  of  the  two  houses  but  Mr.  Smith,  Mr.  Jones,  and 
the  bookkeeper  help  pay  the  city's  bills.   All  storekeepers 
pay  rent  to  those  who  own  the  store  buildings.  The  butcher 
adds  enough  to  the  price  of  his  sausages,  chicken,  and  stew 
bones  to  pay  his  rent.    The  man  who  sells  candy,  shoes, 
books,  or  anything  else  does  the  same.     So  a  little  of  the 
eight  dollars  which  the  bookkeeper  paid  for  a  raincoat  and 
of  the  twelve  dollars  that  Mr.  Smith  and  Mr.  Jones  had  to 
pay  for  a  barrel  of  flour  went  toward  the  storekeeper's  rent. 
Some  of  this  rent  went  to  pay  taxes.   And  so  it  goes.   It  is  all 
a  story  a  good  deal  like  that  of  "  The  House  that  Jack  Built." 

Property-Owners  pay  Larger  Taxes  than  House-Renters 

8.  While  the  Mr.  Smith  who  lives  in  a  rented  house 
helps  indirectly  to  pay  taxes,  the  owner  of  the  house  has 
to  pay  much  more.    He  must  pay  not  only  the  indirect  taxes 
on  meat,  clothing,  and  fuel  but  also  the  direct  tax  to  the 
city  treasurer. 


218 


MY  COUNTRY 


Men  who  own  Houses  and  Men  who  rent  Houses  help  pay 
the  City's  Bills 

5.  Before  wasting  too  much  sympathy  on  the  property- 
owners,  we  would  better  ask  where  the  man  who  owns 
houses  gets  the  money  to  pay  his  taxes.  Perhaps  he  has 
three  houses.  He  lives  in  one  and  rents  the  other  two. 


Copr.  Publishers'  Photo  Service 


This  House  is  taxed  to  help  pay  for  School-teachers 

He  pays  his  tax  out  of  the  rent  which  the  two  houses 
bring  him.  Perhaps  the  Smith  family  lives  in  one  house 
and  the  Jones  family  in  the  other.  Each  family  pays 
him  thirty  dollars  a  month  rent.  This  means  that  in  a 
year's  time  he  is  paid  seven  hundred  and  twenty  dollars 
by  Mr.  Smith  and  Mr.  Jones.  A  part  of  this  money  goes  to 
the  city  treasurer.  So  it  is  really  some  of  Mr.  Smith's  money 
that  helps  pay  the  printer's  bill  and  the  teachers'  salaries. 


PAYING  THE  PEOPLE'S  BILLS  219 

Roomers  and  Boarders  help  pay  the  City's  Bills 

6.  The  bookkeeper  who  told  the  new  stenographer  that 
the  city  had  "money  to  burn"   rooms  at  the   Smiths'  and 
gets  her  meals  with  the  Joneses.    The  four  dollars  a  week 
that  she  pays   for  her  room  helps  pay  the   Smiths'  rent. 
The  six  dollars  that  she  pays  the  Joneses  for  her  meals 
helps  pay  their  rent.     So  part  of  the  bookkeeper's  money 
goes  to  pay  for  the  printing  that   was  done  in  the  office 
where  she  worked. 

Storekeepers  help  pay  the  City's  Bills 

7.  But  there  is  still  another  way  in  which  not  only  the 
owner  of  the  two  houses  but  Mr.  Smith,  Mr.  Jones,  and 
the  bookkeeper  help  pay  the  city's  bills.    All  storekeepers 
pay  rent  to  those  who  own  the  store  buildings.   The  butcher 
adds  enough  to  the  price  of  his  sausages,  chicken,  and  stew 
bones  to  pay  his  rent.    The  man  who  sells  candy,  shoes, 
books,  or  anything  else  does  the  same.     So  a  little  of  the 
eight  dollars  which  the  bookkeeper  paid  for  a  raincoat  and 
of  the  twelve  dollars  that  Mr.  Smith  and  Mr.  Jones  had  to 
pay  for  a  barrel  of  flour  went  toward  the  storekeeper's  rent. 
Some  of  this  rent  went  to  pay  taxes.   And  so  it  goes.   It  is  all 
a  story  a  good  deal  like  that  of  "  The  House  that  Jack  Built." 

Property-Owners  pay  Larger  Taxes  than  House-Renters 

8.  While  the  Mr.  Smith  who  lives  in  a  rented  house 
helps  indirectly  to  pay  taxes,  the  owner  of  the  house  has 
to  pay  much  more.    He  must  pay  not  only  the  indirect  taxes 
on  meat,  clothing,  and  fuel  but  also  the  direct  tax  to  the 
city  treasurer. 


220 


MY  COUNTRY 


What  happens  when  Someone  cheats  the  City 

9.  But  how  do  the  bookkeeper  and  the  other  people  of 
the  city  help  pay  for  the  overcharge  that  the  printing  office 

made  to  the  city?  The 
more  money  the  city  has 
to  pay  out,  the  more  must 
come  in.  Suppose  that 
suddenly  all  the  people 
who  work  for  the  city 
cheat  a  little.  They  either 
do  a  little  less  work  than 
they  are  paid  for  or  they 
overcharge  for  what  they 
do.  The  city  treasurer 
finds  that  there  is  not 
enough  money  to  pay  all 
bills.  So  the  city  offi- 
cials say :  "  Last  year  we 
charged  twenty  dollars 
for  every  thousand 
dollars'  worth  of  land 
and  buildings  that  the 
people  own.  This  year 
we  shall  have  to  charge 
more  or  cut  down  ex- 
penses." Cutting  down 
expenses  might  mean 
having  fewer  policemen,  reducing  teachers'  salaries,  going 
without  a  needed  fire  engine,  using  fewer  street  sprinklers. 
Cities  and  towns  hesitate  to  cut  down  expenses  of  this  kind, 


Copr.  Brown  Brothers 

The  Tax  on  this  Building  helps  pay  for 
Schools 


PAYING  THE  PEOPLE'S  BILLS  221 

for  the  voters  are  sure  to  find  fault.  This  must  often  be 
done,  however,  but  the  more  usual  way  of  getting  the  neces- 
sary money  is  to  make  property-owners  pay  a  larger  tax. 

10.  The  result  is  that  the  owners  of  stores  and  houses 
ask  more  rent.    The  storekeeper  therefore  raises  his  prices. 
He  charges  a  little  more  for  his  sausages,  flour,  shoes,  rain- 
coats.   The  owner  of  the  houses  rented  to  Smith  and  Jones 
also  raises  the  rent.    Mr.  Smith  then   proceeds  to   charge 
more  for  the  room  which  the  bookkeeper  rents  from  him. 
She  must  either  pay  the  higher  price  or  look  for  a  room 
that  is  smaller  and  less'  attractive.    Mr.  Jones,  also,  either 
goes  up  on  the  price  of   meals   or   gives  less  cream,  less 
roast  beef,  and  more  thin  milk  and  codfish.   No  matter  how 
hard  they  try,  neither  the  Smiths  nor  the  Joneses  nor  the 
bookkeeper  can  avoid  helping  pay  those  who  cheat  the  city. 

11.  If  you  ever  work  for  the 'city,  the  state,  or  the  nation, 
remember  that  you  yourself  must  help  pay  in  cash  for  every 
hour  of  the  government's  time  that  you  waste,  for  all  the 
paper  that  you  spoil,  and  for  all  the  poor  work  that  you  do. 

It  is  Cheaper  to  pay  School  Taxes  than  to  have 
No  Schools 

12.  A  little  Vermont  town  once  had  a  very  troublesome 
old  lady.    She  owned  a  fine  large  house  and  several  small 
houses,  on  which,  of  course,  she  had  to  pay  a  tax  every  year. 
She  was  selfish  and  ignorant,  although  she  did  not  know  it. 
Every  year  at  tax  time  she  talked  a  great  deal  about  having 
to  pay  the  bills  of  poor  folks.    She  "didn't  see  why  children 
had  to  have  steam-heated  schools  and  free  textbooks."    She 
had  no  children  of  her  own,  and  if  there  had  been  no  school 
her  tax  bill  would  not  have  been  so  large,  she  thought. 


222  MY  COUNTRY 

13.  The  principal  of  the  school  was  a  loyal  citizen,  and 
knew  that  if  wisely  spent,  the  more  money  used  for  the 
schools,  the  more  safe  and  prosperous  the  village  would  be. 
But  the  old  lady's  influence  was  so  great  that  he  found  it 
difficult  to  get  money  enough  even  to  buy  the  books  that 
were  needed.    The  histories  that  the  classes  used  ended  with 
McKinley's  administration.    Half  of  the  geographies  looked 
as  if  the  rats  had  made  many  meals  from  them.  Finally  the 
principal  decided  to  try  an  experiment. 

14.  One  of  the  cottages  that  the  old  lady  owned  was  then 
empty.    The  principal  rented  this  cottage,  then  drove  back 
into  the  hills  five  miles  from  the  village.    He  went  to  one 
of  the  families  there  and  told  them  that  if  they  wanted  to 
live  in  the  village  through  the  winter  they  could  have  the 
rent  of  this  house  free.    The  family  moved.    Three  months 
later  a  friend  called  on  the  selfish  old  lady  and  said :  "  What 
a  queer  family  you  have  in  that  last  little  cottage  of  yours. 
Half  the  windows  are  broken  and  stuffed  with  newspapers. 
The  woodpile  is  in  the  front  yard.    The  children  act  like 
little  heathen.    All  the  good  families  are  moving  away." 

15.  Much  alarmed,  the  owner  of  the  cottage  sent  for  her 
automobile  and  was  driven  to  the  cottage.    Just   as  they 
drew  up  in  front  of  the  gate,  bang !  went  one  of  the  tires, 
and  the  chauffeur  reported  a  bad  puncture.    "The  road's 
full  of  broken  glass,"  he  explained.    "The  boys  who  live  in 
the  cottage  evidently  amuse  themselves  by  breaking  bottles 
in   the   street."    The   chauffeur  rang  the  bell.    An  untidy 
woman  opened  the  door,  and  looked  at  him  insolently  a 
moment.   "  I  ain't  no  time  to  talk  with  the  likes  of  you,"  she 
said  shortly,  and  banged  the  door  in  his  face.   As  they  drove 
away,  the  owner  of   the  house  saw  three  boys  building  a 


PAYING  THE  PEOPLE'S  BILLS 


223 


hencoop  in  the  side  yard  with  boards  which  they  had  taken 
from  the  fence. 

16.  In  great  indignation  the  woman  sent  for  the  principal. 
"I  won't  have  heathen  in  any  of  my  houses,"  she  said.  "They 
are  ruining  it.  It  will  cost  at  least  a  hundred  dollars  to  put  it 
in  repair  and  fifty  dollars  for  a  new  tire  for  my  automobile." 


Somebody  has  to  pay  for  Beautiful  Schools  like  this.   Who  is  it  ? 

17.  "I'm  sorry,"  said  the  principal.  "But  this  family  is 
one  of  several  that  live  back  from  the  village,  where  there 
is  no  school.  I  wanted  these  children  to  have  at  least  one 
winter  of  the  best  that  our  village  could  offer.  You  see,  boys 
and  girls  have  a  tremendous  amount  of  energy.  They  must 
do  something.  School  gives  them  plenty  of  work  and  plenty 
of  play.  Then  they  have  neither  so  much  time  nor  so  much 
desire  to  smash  things.  Of  course  you  know  that  in  school 
they  learn  to  obey  rules.  You  would  move  out  of  this  town 


224  MY  COUNTRY 

in  six  months  if  all  the  schools  should  be  closed.  It  is 
there  that  pupils  learn  the  value  of  law  and  order.  The  boys 
in  your  cottage  will  learn  in  time.  They  probably  never  had 
to  obey  anyone  until  they  came  here.  If  they  could  only  stay 
here  for  three  years,  I  think  you  would  not  know  them." 

18.  The  old  lady  began  to  think.    The  only  family  that 
abused  her  property  was  the  one  that  had  had  no  schools 
for  its  children.    Perhaps  schools  were  worth  paying  for  after 
all !    When  tax  time  came,  she  astonished  the  village  by 
making  no  protest  at  having  to  pay  for  "poor   children's 
education."    She  also  sent  the  principal  a  check  to  help 
start  a  school  garden.   "Perhaps  those  awful  boys  will  spend 
some  of  their  energy  hoeing,"  she  said  to  herself,  "instead 
of  smashing  my  fences  and  windows." 

Some  Buildings  are  not  Taxed 

19.  Probably  in  every  town  and  city  there   are  certain 
buildings   which  are  not  taxed.     Public  schools,  colleges, 
churches,  and  public  libraries   are   buildings  of  this   kind. 
This  is  as  it  should  be,  of  course,  but  sometimes  there  are 
men  who  find  fault  with  it.     In  a  certain  city  three  valu- 
able city  lots  were  occupied  by  churches.    Neither  the  church 
buildings  nor  the  land  on  which  they  stood  could  be  taxed. 
If  stores  had  been  erected  on  these  lots,  the  city  would 
have  received  many  thousands  of  dollars  in  taxes  from  them. 
This  would  have  given  the  city  more  money  for  new  pave- 
ments, which  were  badly  needed.    Some  of  the  business  men 
thought  the  church  societies  ought  to  pull  down  their  build- 
ings, sell  their  land,  and  move  out  into  the  suburbs  where 
land  was  cheaper. 


PAYING  THE  PEOPLE'S  BILLS 


225 


20.  But  one  day  one  of  these  men,  on  his  way  to  lunch, 
noticed  people  entering  and  leaving  the  largest  of  the 
churches.  Curious  to  see  what  was  going  on,  he  too 


Churches  are  not  Taxed 


Copr.  Brown  Brothers 


entered.  He  had  never  been  in  the  building  before.  It  was 
cool  and  restful,  so  he  slipped  into  a  pew.  He  had  forgot- 
ten that  a  church  could  be  so  beautiful.  High  above  him 
the  windows  glowed  purple  and  gold  and  all  the  hues  of 


226  MY  COUNTRY 

the  rainbow.  These  windows  had  been  made  by  great  art- 
ists, and  a  famous  sculptor  had  designed  the  huge  bronze 
chandelier  of  angels  who  held  globes  of  light  in  their  out- 
stretched hands.  Somewhere  an  organ  was  being  played. 
He  could  not  see  it,  but  the  music  filled  the  church.  The 
people  came  and  went ;  some  came  to  rest,  others  to  see  what 
the  church  looked  like,  and  some  to  worship.  The  beauty 
of  the  huge  columns  of  stone,  the  rich  brown  woodwork, 
the  windows,  the  music,  all  helped  to  put  a  new  light  into 
the  eyes  of  the  people.  When  the  business  man  returned 
to  his  work  he  had  learned  his  lesson.  He  knew  that  no 
amount  of  tax  money  could  make  up  for  the  loss  of  the 
churches  in  the  heart  of  the  city. 

Taxes  make  Men  work  Harder 

21.  It  is  a  good  thing  that  all  men  must  help  pay  the 
city's  bills.  Some  men,  if  they  had  no  taxes  or  house  rent 
to  pay,  would  not  do  their  work  so  well.  Strong  bodies  and 
strong  characters  come  only  from  hard  work.  Every  man 
knows  that  the  amount  of  his  wages  or  salary  depends 
largely  on  how  much  work  he  does  and  how  well  he  does'  it. 
If  rent  and  food  prices  go  up,  he  gets  into  his  office  a  little 
earlier  and  tries  to  make  fewer  mistakes,  hoping  to  have 
his  pay  increased.  He  spends  his  money  more  carefully.  He 
sees  that  no  food  is  wasted  in  his  home.  All  this  helps  to 
make  him  a  stronger  man  and  a  better  citizen.  But  most 
important  of  all,  high  taxes  and  high  rents  make  him  take 
more  care  to  vote  for  the  right  men  to  carry  on  the  city's 
business.  An  extravagant  mayor  or  a  dishonest  street  com- 
missioner are  sure  to  help  empty  his  pockets. 


PAYING  THE  PEOPLE'S  BILLS  227 

Helping  to  pay  the  City's  Bills  makes  a  Person  feel 
Independent 

22.  Helping  to  pay  teachers'  salaries  and  the  other  bills 
of  the  city  makes  a  person  more  independent.    No  poor  boy 
wants  to  feel  that  a  rich  boy  is  paying  for  his  education. 
Every  man  who  lives  in  a  town  with  well-paved  streets, 
beautiful  parks,  good  street  lights,  and  the  other  conveniences 
that  make  life  enjoyable  wants  to  know  that  some  of  his 
money  is  paying  for  them. 

23.  The  grammar  school  of  a  large  city  was  raising  money 
to  buy  a  flag.    The  principal  had  announced  that  all  day 
Friday  pupils  could  leave  their  contributions  in  his  office. 
Before  Friday  came   one   teacher  went   to  him  and   said: 
"Some  of  the  boys  in  my  grade  are  very  poor.    I  think  that 
many  of  them  ought  not  to  give  even  a  penny.    Sha'n't  I 
tell  them  they  need  not  feel  they  must  give?" 

24.  The  principal  looked  thoughtful.    "No,"  he  replied, 
"I  think  that  would  be  a  mistake.    This  school  belongs  to 
the  poor  boys  quite  as  much  as  to  the  rich  boys.    They  will 
want  the  flag  to  be  theirs   also.    If   a  boy  gives  nothing 
toward  it,  every  time  he  sees  it  he  will  have  a  queer  little 
feeling  of  regret  in  his  throat.    I'd  rather  a  boy  would  work 
hard  to  earn  ten  cents  and  give  that  than  give  nothing  at  all." 

25.  There  were  over  six  hundred  pupils  in  the  school  and 
only  five  failed  to  give  something  toward  the  flag.    Probably 
the  poorest  pupil  in  the  school  was  a  boy  who  had  no  parents 
and  was  boarded  by  the  state  with  an  old  lady.    He  did  not 
have  even  a  cent  of  his  own.   Yet  early  Friday  morning  he 
timidly  left  twenty-five  cents  on  the  principal's  desk.    To 
the  principal's  question  as  to  how  he  got  the  money,  he 


228  MY  COUNTKY 

said,  "Why,  Mrs.  Adams  [the  woman  with  whom  he  lived] 
said  that  my  desserts  cost  nearly  twenty-five  cents  a  week, 
and  that  if  I  was  willing  to  go  without  either  pie  or  dough- 
nuts for  one  week  she  would  give  me  a  quarter." 

26.  Don't  you  suppose  that  boy  got  more  pleasure  out  of 
his  twenty-five  cents'  worth  of  the  flag  than  the  boy  whose 
father  gave  him  a  dollar  to  use  for  the  same  purpose  ? 

Rich  and  Poor  pay  the  Taxes 

27.  One  of  the  things  for  which  America  stands  is  equal- 
ity.   If  the  rich  people  alone  paid  for  schools,  libraries,  and 
everything  that  makes  our  towns  pleasant,  soon  a  kind  of 
wall  would  grow  up  between  the  rich  and  the  poor.    The 
rich  would  begin  to  think  that  they  were  entitled  to  more 
rights  than  the  poor.    It  was  a  wise  plan  that  made  our 
people  decide  to  give  to  the  poor  man  and  the  rich  man 
only  one  vote  each,  and  to  make  both  pay  a  share  toward 
the  expenses  of  the  nation,  state,  and  town. 

State  and  National  Taxes 

28.  Besides  the  taxes  we  have  just  been  talking  about, 
there   are  many  others  which  affect  everybody  directly  or 
indirectly.      It   costs  a  great  deal  to  run  our  government. 
Besides  the  affairs  of  the  towns  and  cities  that  have  to  be 
attended  to,  there  are  the  states  and  the  nation.    There  are 
dozens  of  different  offices  in  every  state  capitol.    These  have 
to  have  furniture,  light,  heat,  to  say  nothing  of  the  clerks  to 
do  the  work.    The  governor  has  to  be  paid  a  salary,  so  does 
his  stenographer,  the  telephone  operator,  the  janitor.    Then 
there  are  courthouses,  homes  for  the  aged,  and,  sad  to  say, 


PAYING  THE  PEOPLE'S  BILLS  229 

jails  and  reform  schools.    These  are  expensive  and  must  be 
paid  for  with  the  people's  money. 

29.  The   states   get   some    of   the   money  they  need  by 
requiring  villages   and   cities  to  give  to  it  a  part  of  their 
tax  money.    But  this  is  not  enough.    Different  states  have 
different  ways  of  raising  the  rest  of  the  money  that  they 
need.    Sometimes  they  tax  the  railroads  and  electric-light 
and  gas  companies.    Many  states  tax  incomes  and  inherit- 
ances.    In  Massachusetts  a  man  with  a  salary  of  $2000 
must  pay  a  tax  on  this,  and  if  he  inherits  money,  he  must 
also  pay  a  tax  on  that.    Since  the  tax  laws  of  no  two  states 
are  just  alike,  you  should  find  out  for  yourself  what  the 
most  important  ones  of  your  state  are. 

Paying  the  President's  Salary 

30.  A   schoolgirl  was    asked  where   the   government   at 
Washington    got    money   to   pay   the    president's    $75,000 
salary,  to   buy  coal  for  the   capitol,  to  pay  the   judges   of 
the  Supreme  Court,  and  to  buy   clothes   for  the  soldiers 
and  sailors.    Very  quickly  she  answered,  "  At  the  United 
States  mint."    When  asked   how  the  mint  got  the  silver 
and  gold  to  make  into   money,  she  said,  "  Up  in  Alaska 
and  out  in  California." 

Where  our  National  Government  gets  its  Money 

31.  There  is  much  gold  both  in  California  and  in  Alaska, 
but  it  does  not  belong  to  the  government.    The  gold  is  the 
property  of  the  men  who  own  or  operate  the  mines.    They 
can  send  it  to  the  mint  and  get  in  return  either  gold  coins 
or  paper  certificates.     They  pay  the   government   a    small 


230  MY  COUNTRY 

amount  for  coining  the  gold.  But  if  the  United  States  needs 
gold  or  silver  or  copper,  it  has  to  l>uy  it  from  the  men  who 
control  the  mines.  And  to  buy  gold  the  government  must 
have  money.  So,  like  the  towns  and  cities,  the  United  States 
government  must  get  money  from  the  people  in  some  way. 
In  times  of  peace  the  government  at  Washington  gets  most 
of  it  by  means  of  what  we  call  indirect  taxes.  Some  of  the 
things  which  we  buy  from  China,  Japan,  and  Europe  are 
taxed.  For  example,  if  a  department  store  in  Chicago  buys 
men's  coats  made  in  England,. it  must  pay  our  government 
a  duty  or  tax  on  each  separate  coat.  If  a  woman  goes  to 
Paris  and  brings  back  hundreds  of  dollars'  worth  of  dresses, 
she  must  pay  a  duty  or  tax  on  these.  There  is  a  heavy  duty 
on  tea  and  a  light  duty  on  coffee. 

32.  Most  of  the  people  help  to  pay  even  these  national 
government  taxes.    The  department  store  adds  enough  to 
the  price  of  each  coat  to  pay  the  tax.    Every  person  who 
buys  a  pound  of  tea  is  paying  a  small  part  of  the  tea  tax. 
Even  Mr.  Smith,  his  roomer,  and  his  family  are  helping  to 
heat  the  capitol  at  Washington. 

Emergency  Taxes 

33.  In  times  of  emergency  special  taxes  of  many  kinds 
have  to  be  devised.     In  1917  Congress  passed  the  largest 
tax  bill  that  had  ever  been  passed  by  any  nation  in  the 
world.    A  tax  of  one  cent  was  placed  on  every  letter,  so 
that  instead  of  a  two-cent  stamp  a  person  had  to  buy  a 
three-cent  stamp.    A  person  who  went  to  a  concert  or  to  the 
theater  had  to  pay  a  tax  on  his  ticket.     Everybody  who 
traveled  on  the  railroad  was  taxed  for  his  ticket.     Not  a 
person  in  the  United  States  escaped.    This  was  as  it  should 


PAYING  THE  PEOPLE'S  BILLS  231 

be,  for  the  war  was  threatening  the  safety  of  every  man, 
woman,  and  child.  A  few  dollars  of  tax  money  was  little 
indeed  when  compared  with  the  valuable  lives  that  our 
best  young  men  gave  as  their  part  of  the  greatest  war  tax 
of  all  time. 

The  People  must  pay  for  Safety 

34.  You  have  often  heard  this  sentence:    "The  govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  is  a  government  of  the  people, 
by  the  people,  for  the  people."    If  this  is  so,  and  it  is,  then 
of  course  every  person  must  expect  not  only  to  have  safety 
but  to  help  pay  for  safety.     Those  who  grumble  at  a  war 
tax  should  be  made  to  live  in  a  war-saddened  country  like 
Belgium,  where  little  children  were  shot  and  fathers  were 
sent  away  to  work  as  slaves  for  tyrant  masters.    They  would 
never  again  grumble  about  taxes. 

Freedom  must  be  paid  for  in  Taxes  of  Money  and  Lives 

35.  The  price  of  freedom  is  a  high  one.     Freedom  was 
bought  for  us  at  the  time  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  and 
the  price  (the  tax,  we  might  call  it)  was  money  and  lives. 
Freedom  was  bought  for  the  negro  by  the  Civil  War,  and 
again  the  price  was  lives  and  money.    Freedom  was  obtained 
for  the  Cubans  in  the  Spanish  War,  and  the  same  costly 
price  had  to  be  paid.    And  in  the  greatest  of  all  great  wars  a 
terrible  price  had  to  be  paid,  but  the  millions  of  men  who 
have  already  paid  with  their  lives  for  it  have  died  willingly, 
even  eagerly. 

36.  Those   who  pay  the  most  willingly  the  taxes  of  a 
freedom-loving  government,  whether  with  money  or  their 
lives,  are  its  best  citizens. 


232  MY  COUNTRY 

QUESTIONS  AND  PROBLEMS 

1.  Where  does  a,  town  or  city  get  its  money?    Can  any 
person  or  any  town  treasurer  go  to  a  bank  and  get  money  ? 
Explain  your  answer. 

2.  A  town  or  city  treasurer  is  a  representative  of  the  people. 
Explain  how  this  is  so. 

3.  Who  chooses  your  town  or  city  treasurer  ?    When  is  he 
chosen  ?   How  much  salary  is  he  paid  ? 

4.  How  can  a  person  cheat  the  city  ?    Have  you  ever  known 
or  heard  of  such  a  person  ?    5.  In  some  cities  the  men  who 
repair  roads  accomplish  only  about  half  as  much  in  a  day 
as  men  who  work  for  a  private  concern.    Are  such  workmen 
patriotic  ?    Give  reasons  for  your  answer. 

6.  What  is  a  tax  ?  7.  The  amount  of  money  that  a  person 
pays  on  each  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  property  is  called  the 
tax  rate.  What  was  the  tax  rate  in  your  town  or  city  last  year  ? 

8.  What  is  a  tax  collector  ?  Does  your  town  or  city  have 
one  ?  What  are  his  duties  ?  9.  When  and  how  does  a  person 
pay  his  tax  ? 

10.  To  be  either  a  tax  collector  or  an  assessor  what  studies 
must  you  have  taken  up  in  school  ?   Would  a  grammar-school 
education  have  been  sufficient  ? 

11.  What  is  the  value  of  the  house  that  you  live  in  and  the 
land  on  which  it  is  built?    12.  How  much  tax  did  the  owner  of 
your  house  have  to  pay  last  year  ?    (If  your  father  owns  your 
house,  ask  him  to  show  you  his  tax  bill.   Make  a  copy  of  it  and 
bring  it  to  school.     If  someone  else  owns  the  house,  to  find 
the  answers  to  these  questions  you  may  have  to  go  to  the 
assessor's  office  at  the  town  or  city  hall. 

13.  Explain  how  the  person  who  lives  in  a  rented  house 
helps  pay  the  city's  bills. 


PAYING  THE  PEOPLE'S  BILLS  233 

14.  Suppose  that  you  are  a  stenographer.    You  live  with 
one  family  and  take  your  meals  with  another.    How  do  you 
help  pay  taxes  ? 

15.  How  does  the  woman  who  buys  a  pound  of  beefsteak 
help  the  butcher  pay  his  rent  ? 

16.  If  men  overcharge  the  city  for  work  that  they  do,  how 
does  this  affect  taxes  ?     17.  Explain  how  the  bookkeeper  who 
said  that  the  city  had  "  money  to  burn  "  helped  pay  its  bills. 

18.  Explain  how  everyone  has  to  help  pay  for  schools. 
19.  Show  how  the  person  who  complains  at  having  to  pay  a 
school  tax  is  selfish  and  ignorant. 

20.  What  kind  of  buildings  in  your  town  are  not  taxed  ? 
Tell  about  the  city  man  who  thought  that  churches  should  not 
occupy  expensive  city  lots. 

21.  This  advertisement  appeared  in  a  Western  newspaper 
one  morning : 

FOR  SALE  — A  whole  mountain 
in  the  most  beautiful  part  of  Ken- 
tucky. Will  sell  part  or  all  of  it. 
Build  your  home  here. 

A  Chicago  business  man  was  attracted  by  it  and  went  down 
to  see  the  mountain.  Nowhere  in  America  had  he  found  any- 
thing more  picturesque.  He  had  almost  decided  to  buy  five 
hundred  acres.  But  first  he  visited  the  nearest  village.  There 
was  no  church,  no  schoolhouse.  In  one  house  the  latest  news- 
paper was  over  a  year  old,  and  only  one  person  in  the  family 
could  read.  Most  of  the  children  that  he  saw  looked  sick  or 
forlorn.  Finally  he  said  to  the  landowner :  "  I  shall  not  buy 
your  mountain  after  all.  It  would  not  be  right  for  me  to  bring 
my  children  to  a  place  where  there  are  no  schools,  and  where 
the  people  do  not  read;  Build  a  schoolhouse,  hire  a  good  teacher, 
and  in  ten  years  advertise  your  mountain  again." 


234  MY  COUNTRY 

Suppose  that  you  lived  in  this  village  and  urged  the  people 
to  have  a  good  school.  What  would  you  say  when  they 
complained  that  it  would  make  taxes  high  ? 

22.  In  a  nation  like  ours  it  would  be  unfair  if  all  the  city's 
expenses  were  paid  by  the  rich  men.    Explain  this. 

23.  If  you  belonged  to  a  club,  would  you  want  to  be  excused 
from  paying  dues  because  you  were  poor  ?    What  would  you 
say  to  a  boy  who  said  he  wanted  only  the  rich  boys  to  pay  for 
the  school  flag  ? 

24.  Thousands  of  young  men  and  women  work  their  way 
through  college  every  year.    What  does  "  work  their  way " 
mean  ?    No  poor  college  student  would  want  a  rich  student  to 
pay  his  bills  for  him.    Why  is  every  true  American  like  these 
students  who  work  their  way  ? 

25.  What  is  a  county  tax?    What  is  a  state  tax?    (See 
Appendix.)    Get  a  copy  of  a  tax  bill  and  be  ready  to  talk  it 
over  in  class. 

26.  Explain  how  your  father  helps  to  pay  the  state  tax. 

27.  What  is  a  poll  tax?    a  dog  license?   a  liquor  license? 

28.  What   is  the  difference   between  a  tax  and   a  license  ? 

29.  Different  states,  counties,  towns,  and  cities  have  different 
systems  of  licenses.    What  are  some  of  the  licenses  that  your 
community  and  state  issue  ?    How  much  do  these  cost  ? 

30.  Explain  how  every  member  of  your  family  helps  pay 
the  president's  salary. 

31.  What  is  a  war  tax  ?    Who  pays  such  a  tax  ?    32.  Name 
five  different  ways   in  which  you  are  helping  pay  for  the 
Great  War. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

AN  ENEMY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 
An  Inside  Enemy 

1.  In  1917  Germany  became  the  enemy  of  the  United 
States.    Germany  was  an  outside  enemy  that  we  could  fight 
with  guns  and  swords.    But  the  United  States  has  many 
deadly  inside  enemies  that  cannot  be  fought  so  easily.  One  of 
these  is  ignorance.    Because  criminal  persons  are  dangerous 
to  the  community,  we  put  them  in  prison.    But  ignorant 
persons,  who  are  often  as  dangerous  as  wrongdoers,  we  usually 
allow  to  come  and  go  as  they  please.    This  is  partly  because 
many  people  have  not  understood  how  much  harm  ignorance 
can  do. 

2.  If  a  History  of  Ignorance  could  be  written,  Americans 
would  blush  for  shame  at  the  long  chapter  on  the  United 
States   that  it  would   contain.    At   one   time  hundreds  of 
women  and  girls  in  the  United  States  were  imprisoned  and 
even  tortured  because  they  were  supposed  to  be  witches. 
There  never   was    and  never  will  be  a  witch.    Ignorance 
alone  was  responsible  for  such  a   foolish   belief.    Another 
kind  of  ignorance,  and  a  very  expensive  kind,  that  Americans 
have  suffered  from  is  ignorance  of  soils.   There  are  thousands 
of  farms  in  the  United  States  that  will  not  yield  a  living, 
no  matter  how  hard  the  farmer  works.   This  is  because  those 
who  owned  them  twenty  or  more  years  ago  were  ignorant. 
They  did  not  know  that  soil  would  wear  out  if  not  treated 

235 


236  MY  COUNTRY 

properly.    One  reason  for  the  high  prices  of  foods  to-day  is 
that  many  acres  of  land  have  been  half  spoiled  or  wholly 

spoiled  through  somebody's  ignorance. 

• 

Ignorance  in  Mexico  and  Russia 

3.  Why  is  it  that  we  pity  the  people  who  live  in  Mexico? 
Chiefly  because  so  many  of  them  are  poor  and  ignorant. 
They  are  poor  largely  because  they  are  ignorant,  for  Mexico 
has  great  wealth.     Many  Mexicans  cannot  read  or  write  or 
do  any  skilled  work  with  their  hands.     An  American  in 
Mexico  hired  three  carpenters  to  repair  his  kitchen.  After  they 
had  worked  four  hours  they  rested  a  half  hour,  and  while 
they  rested  the  American  accomplished,  alone,  more  than 
they  had  in  four  hours.   Ignorant  labor  is  always  poor  labor. 

4.  In  Russia  for   many  centuries  the  poor  people  were 
very  ignorant.    They  had  no  schools,  no  books,  no  pleasures. 
They  were  really  slaves.    Little  by  little  their  lives  were 
made  more  bearable,  but  most  of  them  were  still  kept  in 
ignorance.     So  ignorant  were  they  that  in  1917  many  of 
them  thought  they   could  do  away   with  laws  altogether. 
Each  man  began  to  do  as  he  pleased.   They  refused  to  work. 
They  seized   money  and  land  and  often  killed  those  who 
opposed  them.    Soon  hunger,  suffering,  and  disaster  overtook 
them.    In  their  ignorance  they  had  not  seen  that  without 
law  and  order  there  can  be  no  food,  no  clothing,  no  prosperity. 

Illiteracy  in  the  United  States 

5.  The   United   States   does  not  want  to  have  a  single 
ignorant  person  within  its  borders,  yet  in  one  state  alone 
there   are  more    than   seventy   thousand   persons   who   can 
neither  read  nor  write.   In  the  whole  United  States  there  are 


AN  ENEMY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES        237 

more  than  four  million  such  persons.  These  people  are  called 
illiterates.  How  can  there  be  thousands  of  illiterates  in 
America,  the  land  of  schoolhouses  ?  Who  are  these  people  ? 
There  are  three  kinds  of  illiterates  in  the  United  States: 

1.  Americans    who,  as  children,  worked  in  factories  and 
mines,  or  for  some  other  reason  never  went  to  school. 

2.  Negroes  and  Indians, 
for  whom  the  United  States 
does  not  provide  enough 
schools  to  go  around. 

3.  Foreigners  who  were 
born  in  countries  where 
there  are  few  schools. 

6.  Every  person  who 
comes  to  the  United 
States  from  foreign  coun- 
tries now  has  to  pass  an 
examination.  The  govern- 
ment used  to  admit  any 
person  who  was  respect- 
able and  free  from  deadly 
disease.  But  we  have 
learned  that  ignorance  Testing  an  Immigrant  Girl 

may  also  be  very  harmful. 

Now  each  newcomer  is  held  at  the  port  of  landing  until 
government  officials  can  examine  him.  He  is  given  a  physi- 
cal examination,  a  reading  examination,  and  a  "  mental 
test "  to  make  sure  that  he  is  not  feeble-minded  or  mentally 
unbalanced.  Our  government  now  turns  back  all  diseased 
and  ignorant  persons  who  come  from  foreign  countries. 
Disease  and  ignorance  are  the  worst  enemies  of  any  nation. 


238  MY  COUNTRY 

Free  Day  Schools 

7.  Our  free  public  day  schools  were  at  first  intended  only 
for  children  and  young  people.    In  most  states  the  law  does 
not  prevent  men  and  women  from  going  to  the  same  school 
with  children.    Bub  grown  people  would  feel  humiliated  to 
be  put  in  classes  with  mere  children.    Besides,  they  work 
all  day.    So  for  many  years  our  schools  educated  the  young 
people,  but  did  nothing  for  the  men  and  women.    Finally 
somebody  suggested  free  evening  schools. 

Free  Night  Schools 

8.  Most  of  the  large  cities  and  many  of  the  towns  now 
have  night  schools  free  to  any  man  or  woman,  boy  or  girl 
who  cannot  attend  the  day  school.    In  these  the  pupils  can 
at  least  learn  to  read  and  write.    This  is  the  first  step  away 
from    ignorance  and   toward   success.     When   a   man    has 
learned  to  write  what  he  thinks  and  to  read  what  others 
think,  he  has  the  key  to  all  knowledge,  to  every  kind  of 
occupation,  and  to  every  kind  of  success.    Before  the  nurse 
could  study  nursing  she  had  to  know  how  to  read  and 
write.     Before    the    bridge    builder    could    learn    to    build 
bridges  he  had  to  know  how  to  read  and  write  and  to 
use  books. 

Moonlight  Schools 

9.  In  the  Southern  mountains  somebody  started  moon- 
light schools  for  white  men  and  women  who  had  little  or  no 
education.    Travel  over  mountain  roads  after  dark  is  danger- 
ous and  almost  impossible,  so  schools  were  opened  up  only 
on  the  moonlight  nights.    People  came  long  distances,  and 
studied  eagerly.    One  woman  of  twenty-five  was  surprised 


AN  ENEMY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES        239 

to  learn  that  "  square  "  money  was  just  as  good  as  "  round  " 
money.    Before  this  she  had  refused  to  accept  paper  money 

9.9-.    \<ft(, 


Xk*- 


CL, 


because  she  supposed  it  was  not  worth  so  much.  The  man 
who  wrote  the  letter  above  said  that  the  moonlight  school 
was  the  "  best  thing  that  ever  happened  "  to  him. 


240  MY  COUNTRY 

Day  Schools  for  Men  and  Women 

10.  One  day  in  a  Wisconsin  town  a  Swede  twenty-eight 
years  old  appeared  at  the  office  of  the  school  principal  and 
said  he  wanted  to  learn  to  read  and  write  English.    The 
principal  told  the  man  he  would  have  to  attend  an  evening 
class  —  the  day  schools  were  only  for  young  people.  But  the 
Swede  worked  all  night  in  a  bakery.    He  slept  mornings, 
and  his  only  free  time  was  afternoons.    The  principal  was 
puzzled.    The  Swede  was  willing  to  be  put  in  with  young 
boys,  but  none  of  the  classes  were  just  what  he  needed. 
The  principal  made  an  investigation  and  found  that  there 
were  other  night  workers  who  would  like  to  join  a  special 
afternoon  class.    Then  he  found  a  teacher  who  volunteered 
to  teach  them  three  hours  every  school  afternoon. 

11.  There  are  now  many  similar  day  classes  for  night 
workers  in  other  parts  of  the  country.    Each  year  there  will 
be  more  such  classes,  for  the  time  must  come  when  the 
United  States  will  have  a  school  and  a  teacher  for  every 
man,  woman,  and  child  that  needs  one. 

When  Ignorance  is  Dangerous 

12.  The  moment  a  person  can  read  and  write  all  simple 
words  he  is  no  longer  illiterate.    But  ignorance  is  not  cured 
so  easily.    Many  a  man  who  can  read  and  write  is  still 
so  ignorant  that  he  is  dangerous  to  the  community.    One 
day  a  Pennsylvania  aluminum-powder  mill  was  blown  up 
and  ten  men  killed.    Aluminum  powder  will  explode  the 
moment  water  comes  in  contact  with  it.    A  new  workman 
had  been  told  this,  but  he  was  too  ignorant  to  understand 
.how  anything  except  fire  could  make  powder  explode.    His 


AN  ENEMY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES        241 

carelessness,  due  to  his  ignorance,  caused  the  explosion. 
This  man,  like  every  other  person,  should  learn  and  under- 
stand everything  possible  about  his  work.  The  least  bit 
of  ignorance  is  likely  to  result  in  injury  or  injustice  to 
someone. 

13.  When  the  immense  New  York  aqueduct  was  being 
built,  the  laborers  were  in  the  habit  of  throwing  their  dirty 
water  and  rubbish  into  the  reservoir.  Everywhere  there 
were  signs  which  read : 


NO  WATER,  FOOD,  OR  RUBBISH  OF  ANY  KIND 
SHALL  BE  THROWN  INTO  THE  RESERVOIR 


All  the  men  could  read  this,  and  they  knew  what  it  meant, 
but  when  the  "bosses"  were  not  looking  they  made  a 
dumping  place  of  the  water.  One  day  somebody  explained 
to  them  that  the  reservoir  water  was  carried  in  pipes  down 
to  New  York  City  for  the  people  to  drink,  and  that  filth 
of  any  kind  made  water  so  impure  that  it  might  cause  the 
death  of  babies  and  delicate  people.  Never  after  that  did 
the  workmen  throw  rubbish  into  the  reservoir.  These  men 
could  read,  but  they  had  not  read  enough.  It  was  as  if  they 
had  gone  to  school  through  the  third  grade  and  then 
stopped.  They  had  never  read  about  disease  germs  and 
how  they  can  be  carried  in  water. 

14.  The  man  who  assassinated  President  McKinley  com- 
mitted this  crime  through  ignorance.  He  believed  that  the 
President  was  trying  to  oppress  the  workingmen.  He  was 
not  illiterate,  for  he  could  read,  but  he  had  not  read 
enough.  What  he  believed  of  McKinley  was  wholly  false. 


242  MY  COUNTRY 

The  Men  with  Ideas 

15.  A  distinguished   lawyer   was   giving  a  dinner  to  a 
noted  Englishman.   For  an  hour  two  twelve-year-old  boys 
had  s-tood  in  the  shadow  of  a  huge  elm,  watching  the  auto- 
mobiles draw  up  before  the  big  brownstone  house.    When 
the  last  automobile  had  left  its  passengers,  the  boys  paced 
up  and  down  the  sidewalk,  gazing  eagerly  into  the  brilliantly 
lighted   windows   of  the    big  house.     They  could  not  see 
much,  but  the  sight  of  the  men  in  evening  dress  and  the 
women  in  jewels  and  silks,  the  scent  of  flowers,  the  bril- 
liance of  the   whole  house,  the  passing  and  repassing  of 
servants  before  the  windows,  all  made  the  boys  eager  for 
something  —  they  hardly  knew  what. 

16.  "  Say,  what  do  they  do  in  there  ?    Of  course  they 
will  eat  for  hours  and  hours,  but  what  else  will  they  do  ? " 

"  Huh,  I  know,"  replied  the  other,  and  he  impressively 
lowered  his  voice  as  he  said,  "  They  '11  just  sit  around  and 
talkl" 

This  statement  was  received  in  the  half -scornful  silence 
that  the  speaker  expected,  but  he  had  his  proof  ready. 

17.  "Last  summer  I  was  page  in  the  big  clubhouse  that 
all  the  important  men  belong  to.    They  gave  a  dinner  to  a 
congressman  one  night.    It  was  six  o'clock  when  they  began 
to  eat  and  at  ten  they  were  still  at  the  tables.    I  asked  one 
of  the  waiters  to  let  me  peek  in,  and  there  they  sat,  talking, 
first  one,  and  then  another.    They  weren't  telling  stories; 
they  were  just  talking  about  things.  The  waiter  said  that  was 
what  they  almost  always  did.    He  thought  moving  pictures 
were  more  interesting.    But  when  I  told  my  mother  about 
it,  she  said  the  men  and  women  that  every  city  is  proud  of 


AN  ENEMY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES        243 

are  those  who  have  ideas  and  have  succeeded  because 
of  these  ideas.  So  I  suppose  all  these  folks  inside  there 
have  ideas,  and  it's  ideas  that  they  talk." 

18.  Ignorance  is  never  given  a  place  at  the  table  where 
distinguished  guests  are  being  entertained.  When  an  English 
statesman,  a  great  inventor,  a  renowned  poet,  visits  your 
town  or  city,  who  are  invited  to  meet  him  ?    Would  you 
not  like  to  be  worthy  of  an  invitation  ?    It  is  not  money,  it 
is  not  pull,  that  will  make  you  welcome  in  the  homes  and 
at  the  tables  of  the  men  who  are  worth  while.    You  must 
be  able  to  "give  and  take"  —  to  give  ideas  and  to  receive 
ideas.    Read,  talk,  think,  is  the  only  rule  by  which  you  can 
gain   the   companionship   of   the   people   whom   you   most 
admire. 

Libraries  help  overcome  Ignorance 

19.  Probably  the  United  States  has  more  libraries  than 
any  other  country.    Many  a  young  man  in  our  large  cities 
goes  to  school  every  night  in  the  week  —  not  to  a  school- 
house  but  to  the  library.    He  works  during  the  day.    But 
he  is  hungry  to  know  what  the  world  is  doing  and  what 
the  great  men  of  the  past  have  done.    Evening  after  evening 
he  sits  in  a  comfortable  corner  of  a  great  reading  room,  piles 
of  books  beside  him.    The  richest  man  in  his  own  home 
could  not  have  greater  ease  and  comfort  in  reading  than 
this  almost  penniless  young  man  who  is  at  the  bottom  of 
the  ladder.    He  sits  at  a  massive  oak  table,  he  reads  by 
electric  light,  the  walls  about  him  are  rich  with  paintings 
and  carved  woods.    The  books  at  his  command  are  almost 
numberless.    He  is  overcoming  ignorance,  and  is  sure  to 
succeed. 


246  MY  COUNTRY 

12.  Prove  that  ignorance  is  dangerous. 

13.  Many  of  the  men  in  jails  and  prisons  are  very  ignorant. 
Imagine  that  you  know  one  of  these  unfortunate  men,  and 
write  a  short  story  telling  how,  through  ignorance,  he  committed 
a  crime  for  which  he  was  arrested  and  sent  to  jail. 

14.  Why  is  it  necessary  to  keep  reading  and  learning? 

15.  What  newspapers  and  magazines  do  you  have  regularly 
in  your  home  ?    Write  out  the  names  and  bring  the  list  to  class. 

16.  Ask  your  principal  and  your  teacher  to  make  out  a  list 
of  the  papers  that  they  read  regularly.   Are  there  any  on  their 
lists  which  ought  to  be  on  your  home  lists  ? 

17.  In   a   home  where  there   were   a   father   who  was   a 
carpenter,  a  mother,  two  daughters  in  the  high  school,  one 
son  in  college,  and  one  in  the  grammar  school,  these  were  the 
periodicals  subscribed  for :  (1)  The  Chicago  Tribune ;   (2)  The 
New  York  Times ;  (3)  Collier's  Weekly ;  (4)  The  Youth's  Com- 
panion   (a   weekly) ;     (5)    The    Carpenter's    Trade   Journal ; 
(6)   The  Electrical   World?  (7)  Harper's  Monthly.    Can  you 
guess  which  of  these  the  different  members  of  the  family  read  ? 
Give  a  reason  for  each  guess.    Get  a  copy  of  each  of  these 
and  then  tell  whether  you  think  your  family  should  read  all 
or  any  of  them. 

18.  Every  foreigner  who  comes   to  this   country  now   is 
given  a  card  containing  a  short  quotation  from  the  Bible  in 
English  and  also  in  his  native  language.   If  he  can  read  either 
the  English  or  the  other  language,  he  is  "  passed."   The  follow- 
ing sentences  are  similar  to  those  printed  on  the  test  cards : 

I  went  down  into  the  garden  of  nuts  to  see  the  fruits  of  the 
valley,  and  to  see  whether  the  vine  flourished,  and  the  pome- 
granates budded. 

Let  us  get  up  early  to  the  vineyard:  let  us  see  if  the  vine 
flourisheth,  whether  the  tender  grapes  appear,  and  the  pome- 
granates bud  forth. 


AN  ENEMY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES        247 

(1)  How  many  different  words  are  there  in  the  two  quota- 
tions 011  page  246  ?  Make  an  alphabetical  list,  but  do  not 
include  the  same  word  twice.  (2)  Can  children  in  the  third 
grade  read  these  ?  Get  a  second  reader  and  a  third  reader, 
and  decide  into  which  grade  the  sentences  would  fit.  This 
will  show  you  how  many  grades  of  reading,  or  their  equivalent, 
these  foreigners  are  supposed  to  have  had.  (3)  Why  does  the 
United  States  have  such  a  test  as  this  ? 

19.  What  person  in  your  town  or  city  do  you  most  admire? 
Is  he  ignorant  ?    Have  you  ever  talked  with  him  or  heard  him 
talk  ?  .If  you  should  be  invited  to  take  dinner  with  this  person, 
what  could  you  talk  about  that  would  interest  him  ? 

20.  If  your  town  has  a  library,  answer  these  questions : 
(1)  Is  it  free  to  everyone  ?   (2)  What  is  necessary  to  take  books 
home  from  the  library  ?    (3)  In  return  for  the  privilege  of  tak- 
ing books  from  the  library,  how  should  you  treat  the  library  and 
the  books  ?  (4)  WThat  did  the  librarian  mean  who  said,  "  Books 
must  be  treated  as  respectfully  as  persons "  ?  (5)  What  are 
the  rules  and  regulations  of  the  library  ?   (6)  What  newspapers 
and  magazines  does  your  library  have  ?   (7)  What  books  of 
reference  does  it  have  ?    (8)  Who  owns  the  library,  pays  the 
librarian's  salary,  and  furnishes  the  money  for  books  ?   (9)  Does 
your  father  help  in  any  way  to  pay  for  the  library? 


CHAPTER  XVII 

EFFICIENCY  —  THRIFT 
The  Passing  of  Patches 

1.  An  old  man  who  had  been  watching  a  street  full  of 
children  on  their  way  to  school  shook  his  head.    "  Some- 
thing 's  wrong ! "  he  said  to  the  younger  man  with  him. 
"  Not  a  patch  anywhere.    What  is  this  country  coming  to?  " 

2.  Of  the  four  hundred  children  who  had  passed  the  old 
man,  not  one  boy  had  patched  elbows  or  patched  trousers. 
The  girls'  dresses  were  also  patchless.    But  why  should  any- 
body think  this  a  cause  for  sadness  ?    The  old  man  knew 
that  many   of  the  children  came  from  homes  where  the 
father  worked  from  seven  in  the  morning  until  six  at  night. 
Every   cent  that   he    earned  went  to   pay  for   rent,   food, 
clothes,  and  pleasure.     There   was  nothing  left  to  put  in 
the   savings  banks  or  to  go   toward   buying  a  home.    All 
was  going  well  then,  but  what  would  happen  when  sickness 
and  trouble  overtook  the  family  ? 

3.  When  the  boy's  or  the  girl's   elbows   came  through, 
the   coat   or  the  dress   was  thrown  away  and  a  new  one 
bought.    But  when   the  old  man  was  a  boy  his  worn-out 
elbows  were  well  patched,  not  once  but  many  times.     Be- 
cause there  were  patches,  finally  the  little  home  was  paid 
for   and   money  was   put   away  in   the    bank  toward   his 
college  education.    "  Patches  put  me  through  college,"  he 
said  with  a  smile. 

248 


EFFICIENCY  —  THRIFT 
Success  through  Patches 


249 


4.  Many  a  man  in  America  to-day  owes  his  start  toward 
success  to  the  patches  that  his  mother  sewed  into  his 
clothes.  The  same  mothers  who  patched  saved  all  their 
pieces  of  woolen  and  cotton  cloth  to  make  into  bedquilts. 


A  Bread  Line.    Out  of  Work  and  No  Money  in  the  Bank 

Newspapers  were  saved  to  make  lamplighters  and  to  light 
fires.  The  apples  that  could  not  be  eaten  were  evaporated 
to  use  in  the  spring  after  the  winter  apples  had  gone. 
"Drippings"  were  saved  to  make  soap.  Father's  worn-out 
shirts  were  made  over  for  the  small  son,  mother's  old  skirts 
became  whole  dresses  for  the  small  daughters.  When  the 
family  wanted  a  gala  evening,  instead  of  spending  several 
dollars  for  the  theater  they  had  popcorn,  games,  and  music 
at  home. 


250  MY  COUNTKY 

5.  Families  to-day  should  not,  of  course,  live  exactly  as 
families  did  thirty  years  ago.    A  busy  woman  would  prob- 
ably do   better  to  buy  blankets  than  to  make  bedquilts. 
For  a  family  to  go    out  to  some  place  of  entertainment, 
when  it  can  afford  to  do  so,  is  certainly  not  to  be  criticized. 
But  thousands  of  families   have  been  recklessly  spending 
all  their  income  for  everyday  expenses.    This  may  mean  a 
comfortable  present,  but  it  points  to  an  uncertain  future. 
Suppose,  however,  that  a  family  is  willing  to  take  the  risk. 
They  say :  "  We  may  meet  trouble  next  year,  but  this  year 
we  are  going  to  spend  all  the  money  we  earn.    We  shall 
butter   our  bread   on  both  sides,  even  if  we  have   to  go 
butterless  next  year."    Could  anyone  object  to  this  ? 

6.  We  have  cried  it  to  all  the  world  that  in  America  a 
person  can  do  as  he  pleases.    Surely,  then,  if  a  woman  pre- 
fers to  buy  new  dresses  for  her  children,  instead  of  patching 
the  old  ones,  she  has  a  perfect  right  to.    No  one  will  prevent 
her  from  doing  this,  but  if  she  is  a  patriot  she  will  plan  her 
spending  according  to  the  needs  of  her  country.    And  it  is 
her  business  to  know  the  needs  of  the  country. 

Waste  an  Enemy  of  our  Country 

7.  We  have  learned  that  nations  may  have  two  kinds  of 
enemies  —  outside  ones  and  inside  ones.    The  United  States 
has  sometimes  had  outside  enemies,  but  never  has  it  been 
free  from  deadly  inside  foes.    One  of  the  greatest  of  these  is 
Waste.    Families  have  been  wasteful,  towns  and  cities  have 
often    been    wildly    extravagant,    states    have    wasted    the 
people's  money,  and,  sad  to  say,  the  whole  nation  has  done 
the  same.    A  few  people  have  long  realized  this,  but  it  was 


EFFICIENCY  —  THRIFT  251 

not  until  1917  that  the  whole  country  had  it  burned  into 
its  rnind  that  it  was  an  extravagant  nation.  In  that  year 
the  United  States  was  in  peril  and  half  the  world  was 
starving  —  not  merely  hungry,  but  actually  dying  of  hunger. 

Saving  for  Europe 

8.  In  Europe  millions  of  men  who  before  the  Great  War 
broke  out  had  helped  mine  coal,  cut  lumber,  till  the  soil, 
and  raise  vegetables,  fruits,  and  grain,  in  1917  were  them- 
selves lying  under  the  soil.    In  that  year  every  European 
country  except  our  enemies  sent  some  of  their  most  distin- 
guished men  to  Washington  to  explain  to  the  president  and 
Congress  that  their  people  must  have  meat,  sugar,  fats,  wheat, 
fuel.    In  France  coal  cost  from  eighty-five  to  one  hundred 
dollars  a  ton.    In  Italy  many  whole  towns  were  without 
coal.     Serbia  and  Poland  sent  us  photographs  of  their  starv- 
ing babies  and  children.     Something  had  to  be  done,  and 
quickly.    What  was  it  ?    And  who  was  to  do  it  ? 

9.  The  thing  that  had  to  be  done  was  to  stop  all  waste  at 
once.    The  person  who  was  to  do  it  was  "  everybody."     The 
person  who  refused  to  save  was  an  enemy  to  his  country. 
Without  the  help   of    every   man,  woman,    and   child    the 
United  States  could  not  do  its  duty.    Every  slice  of  bread 
wasted  by  a  schoolboy  here  meant  that  some  boy  in  Europe 
would  go  not  only  breadless  but  supperless.     A  barrel  of 
flour  wasted  here  might  mean  a  battle  lost  in  France.    And 
every  battle  lost  in  France  was  a  battle  lost  for  us.    Half- 
worn  clothes  thrown  away  by  Americans  meant  that  woolen 
and  cotton  clothing  that  should  have  gone  to  Europe  for 
children  who  were  shivering  with  cold  was  wasted. 


252  MY  COUNTRY 

Learning  what  Waste  Is 

10.  The  Great   War  helped   show  America  what  waste 
means.     Many  people  who  had  plenty  of  money  could  not 
understand   why   they   might   not,   if   they  wished,  throw 
away  a  coat  that  was  faded  or  a  dress  that  was   out  of 
style  and  buy  a  new  one.    This  was  the  reason.    There  was 
a  shortage  of  wool  and  cotton.     Tons  of  wool  and  cotton 
had  been  sent  to  the  bottom  of  the  ocean  by  submarines. 
The   great   armies  of  our   allies  needed   more  cotton   and 
woolen  than  they  could  get.    Therefore  every  unnecessary 
dress  that  a  woman  in  America  bought  meant  so  much  less 
cotton  or  woolen  for  coats  for  soldiers  or  clothing  for  the 
children  in  Europe.    It  was  not  a  matter  of  money,  but  a 
matter  of  cotton  and  wool.    If  American  women  and  children 
had  more  clothes  than  they  needed,  then  somebody  must 
go  without. 

When  Money  is  Powerless 

11.  It  was  the  same  with  food.    There  were  hungry  fami- 
lies  in   France   and   England   with   plenty  of  money.    But 
money  in  itself  has  no  magic  power.   When  there  is  no  food, 
gold  is  valueless.    Money  can  be  used  only  when  there  is 
something  to  be  bought.    The  rich  people  in  America,  by 
selfishly  wasting  food,  could  have  caused  thousands  of  people 
to  starve  to  death.    Perhaps  a  family  had  money  enough  to 
buy  beefsteak  every  morning  for  breakfast.    But  there  were 
men  in  France  fighting  in  the  cold  and  rain  who  would  have 
no  beef  if  these  Americans  ate  all  they  wanted.  There  was  not 
enough  beef  in  the  world  to  go  around.    It  was  therefore  a  ter- 
rible waste  for  any  person  to  eat  more  beef  or  any  "other  food 
than  he  really  needed,  no  matter  how  much  money  he  had. 


EFFICIENCY  —  THRIFT  253 

America's  Fat  Garbage  Can 

12.  Until  1917  the  United  States  had  had  the  fattest  gar- 
bage can  in  all  the  world.    It  was  estimated  that  this  can 
contained  enough  good  food  to  feed  the  entire  population  of 
France.    But  in  the   spring  of  that  year  President  Wilson 
made  Herbert  C.  Hoover  food  administrator.    Hoover  showed 
the  American  people  how  to  stop  food  waste.    He  helped 
them  save  wheat,  meat,  fats,  sugar,  to  send  to  Europe.    Soon 
all  the  towns  and  cities  had  wheatless  days,  when  they  ate 
only  rye,  corn  meal,  and  oatmeal ;  and  meatless  days,  when 
they  ate  only  fish  and  vegetables.    Butter  and  sugar  were 
saved  in  every  way  possible.    School  children  gave  up  candy. 
Corn  bread  and  molasses  came  back  into  style. 

A  Wasted  Slice  of  Bread 

13.  One  slice  of  bread  wasted  seems  a  small  matter.    But 
if  every  family  wasted  one  slice  a  day,  it  would  take  470,000 
acres  of  wheat  to  furnish  flour  for  these  wasted  slices.    In 
other  words,  470,000  acres  of  land  would  be  wasted  as  truly 
as  if  the  ripened  grain  were  burned  in  the  fields.    The  price 
of  wheat  in  1917  was  $2.20  a  bushel.   Then  this  vast  acreage 
of  wasted  wheat  would  mean  a  money  loss  of  several  million 
dollars.    But    the    loss    would    be  even   greater  than   this. 
Hundreds  of  men  and  horses  had  been  employed  to  prepare 
the  soil,  plant  the  seed,  reap  the  grain,  send  it  to  the  mills, 
take  it  from  the  mills  to  the  grocers,  and  carry  it  from  the 
grocers   to   the   housekeepers.     Horses,    men,  wagons,   and 
railroads  cost  time  and  money. 

14.  No  country  can  afford  either  in  peace  or  in  war  to 
waste  the  labor  of  its  skilled  workers.    Every  unnecessary 


254  MY  COUNTRY 

article  that  is  made  when  there  is  a  scarcity  of  workers  is 
a  waste  of  good  labor.  When  food  is  wasted  at  the  table, 
part  of  the  time  and  labor  of  the  person  who  prepared  it  is 
also  wasted. 

The  Waste  of  Thoughtlessness  and  Selfishness 

15.  Carelessness  and  selfishness  have  been  the  cause  of 
much  of  America's  wastefulness.    An  engineer  on  the  Balti- 
more and  Ohio  Railroad  was  killed  in  a  head-on  collision. 
He  was  the  best  engineer  on  the  road  and  for  forty  years 
had  never  had  an  accident.    When  rescuers  pulled  him  out 
of  the  wreckage,  dying,  he  said,  "  It  couldn't  have  been  my 
fault."    And  it  was  not.    Some  careless  switchman  had  for- 
gotten to  set  the   switch.    The  result  was  lost   lives   and 
thousands   of  dollars'  worth  of  property  wasted.    All   the 
great  care  and  loyalty  of  the  aged  engineer  were  spoiled 
through  one  man's  carelessness. 

16.  In  a  French  hospital  a  young  man  badly  wounded 
was  sobbing  like  a  child.    The  nurse  asked  him  where  the 
pain  was  worst.   "  Oh,  it  is  not  that,"  he  said.   "  I'm  wasted. 
It  was  one  of  our  own  guns  that  got  me.    Somebody  made 
a  mistake." 

17.  Mistakes  cannot  always  be  prevented.    But  on  the 
battlefield  and  in  the  home  a  mistake  often  means  a  tragic 
waste.    The  forgotten  damper  in  the  furnace  may  mean  a 
lost  house.   The  careless  cigarette  has  wasted  untold  millions 
of  dollars'  worth  of  property.    In  every  family  there  will  be 
some  unavoidable  accidents  and  misfortunes.    Therefore  no 
unnecessary  waste  should  be  tolerated.    One  storm  recently 
destroyed  $1,000,000  worth  of  property  in  Kentucky,  and 
even  more  in  Alabama.    Many  a  farmer  loses  a  barnful  of 


EFFICIENCY  —  THRIFT  255 

grain  by  a  stroke  of  lightning.  Extreme  cold  will  kill  fruit 
trees ;  drought  will  ruin  crops.  These  wastes  we  cannot 
prevent.  Trouble  is  certain  to  come  to  everyone.  All  the 
more  reason  why  every  possible  precaution  should  be  taken 
to.  avoid  waste  through  carelessness  or  ignorance. 


Somebody's  Carelessness  caused  This  Fire 

Helps  for  Saving 

18.  There  are  many  helps  for  the  person  who  wishes  to 
save.  Among  these  are  savings  banks,  insurance  companies, 
postal  savings  banks,  war  savings  stamps,  building  and  loan 
associations,  and  cooperative  banks.  Every  dollar  that  is 
placed  in  a  savings  bank  is  a  help  to  the  community. 
Money  in  a  stocking  at  home  is  idle;  money  in  a  bank 
goes  out  to  work  every  day. 


256  MY  COUNTRY 

Idle  Money  is  Wasted 

19.  Idleness  means  waste.    Unused  money  is  wasted.    To 
keep  money  in  a  stocking,  to  have  bureaus  full  of  clothes 
that  are  not  needed,  to  let  good   land  lie  idle,  to  do  no 
useful  work  —  this  is  waste  as  surely  as  is  extravagance. 
If  a  farmer  has  a  hundred  acres  of  land  that  would  yield 
good  crops,  he  is  wasting  them  by  not  cultivating  them. 
He  should  either  use  the  land  or  sell  it  to  someone  who 
would  use  it. 

20.  Money  hoarded  at  home  is  wasted.    Money  is  sup- 
posed always  to  be  kept  at  work.    We  can  and  should  make 
money  our  servant.    Day  or  night  it  should  never  be  idle. 
Did  you  know  that  the  wealthiest  men,  those  whose  fortunes 
are  counted  in  millions,  have  not  an  idle  penny  ?  Except  for 
what  is  necessary  to  pay   their  living  expenses,  all  their 
thousands  are  scattered  over  the  country  working  as  only 
money  can.    The  harder  money  works,  the  faster  it  grows. 
This  is  the  way  one  man  makes  $100,000  work  for  him. 

$20,000  works  on  a  Western  railroad.  Day  and  night  it  is 
helping  huge  steam  engines  draw  trainloads  of  wheat  from  the 
West  to  the  Eastern  markets  and  to  carry  busy  men  back  and 
forth  on  important  business.  This  money  earns  $1100  a  year 
for  the  man. 

$10,000  is  helping  build  houses  in  a  California  town,  and 
earns  $500  a  year. 

$50,000  is  working  on  a  sugar  plantation  in  Cuba,  and  earns 
$3500  a  year. 

$10,000  is  helping  build  a  railroad  in  China,  and  earns  $400 
a  year. 

$10,000  is  fighting  for  the  United  States,  and  earns  $350 
a  year. 


EFFICIENCY  —  THRIFT  257 

21.  This  man's  small  son  one  day  wanted  a  saddle  horse. 
The  father  refused,  saying  he  did  not  have  the  money  then. 
"  I  thought  you  had  over  1 100,000,  and  a  pony  would  not 
cost  more  than  $250,"  the  boy  insisted.    The  father  said 
sensible  men  never  hoarded  their  money,  but  kept  it  hard 
at  work.    He  explained  that  he  had  bought  $10,000  worth 
of  Liberty  Bpnds,  for  which  the  government  paid  him  $350 
a  year ;  this  money  therefore  was  helping  fight  Germany  by 
making  guns  and  overcoats  for  the  soldiers.    The  $10,000 
with  which  he  had  bought  shares  in  a  cooperative  bank  was 
building  houses  for  people  in  California.    The  bank  paid  him 
$500  for  the  use  of  this  money.    Railroads  needed  a  great 
deal  of  money  to  buy  rails  and  coal  and  to  pay  engineers 
and  other  employees,  so  $50,000  of  his  money  had  been 
lent  to  a  large   railroad,  which   paid   him   $1100   a  year 
for  it. 

The  boy  did  not  tell  his  father,  bu.t  he  had  always  sup- 
posed that  men  kept  their  money  in  the  vault  of  a  bank, 
piled  up  in  silver  dollars  and  five-dollar  gold  pieces. 

Making  the  Dollar  Work 

22.  Even  a  single  dollar  need  not  lie  unused  in  a  bureau 
drawer.    Many  savings  banks  will  accept  a  deposit  of  as  small 
an  amount  as  this  and  pay  four  cents  a  year  interest.    This 
dollar  will  then  be  helping  to  build  a  house  or  run  a  rail- 
road or  do  some  other  piece  of  useful  work.    The  savings 
bank  always  keeps  enough  money  in  its  vaults  to  supply 
the  depositors  who  may  want  to  draw  out  part  or  all  of 
their  money.    The  rest  it  puts  to  work.    If  the  savings  bank 
will  not  accept  the  dollar,  then  its  owner  can  take  it  to  the 


258  MY  COUNTRY 

post  office  and  lend  it  to  the  government.    The  government 
will  set  it  to  work  at  once  and  pay  for  its  use. 

23.  A  nation  would   soon   become  very  poor  if   all  the 
people  hoarded  the  money  they  did  not  need  to  live  on. 
Money  saved  and  wisely  invested  by  the  people  will  make 
any  nation  prosperous. 

What  is  Extravagance? 

24.  Money  may  be  wasted  through  idleness  or  by  wrong 
use.    Wrong  use  we  sometimes  call  extravagance.    Families 
which  buy  more  food  than  they  need  and  spend  lavishly 
for  clothes  are  extravagant.    A  town  which  has  high-power 
arc  lights  for  its  streets  when  incandescent  lights  would 
answer  is  extravagant.    So  is  the  city  which  uses  expensive 
paving  for  its  little-traveled  short  side  streets.    But  the  mere 
spending  of  large  sums  of  money  does  not  necessarily  mean 
extravagance.     Perhaps    one   town   spends   forty    thousand 
dollars  for  a  public  library,  and  another  town  of  the  same 
size  fifteen  thousand  dollars.    Is  the  first  town  extravagant 
and  the  other  thrifty  ?    It  is  more  likely  that  the  second  town 
is   shortsighted.    The   town   which  spends   forty  thousand 
dollars,  if  the  spending  is  well  done,  is  not  in  the  least 
extravagant.    The  more  books  and  the   more  beauty  that 
a  library  has,  the  more  helpful  it   can   be  and   the  more 
pleasure  it  can  give. 

25.  If  a  man  can  afford  to  spend  a  thousand  dollars  for 
a  piano,  he  is  not  more  extravagant  than  the  man  who  buys 
one  for  two  hundred  dollars,  provided  the  thousand-dollar 
piano  is  five  times  as  well  made  and  is  capable  of  producing 
better  music  than  the  cheaper  piano. 


EFFICIENCY  —  THRIFT 


259 


Wasted  People 

26.  There  is  another  kind  of  waste,  called  idleness.  Idle 
men  and  women  are  a  terrible  waste  to  a  nation.  There  are 
idle  poor  people,  idle  rich  people,  and  idle  people  who  are 
neither  rich  nor  poor. 
To  be  sure,  the 
United  States  has 
fewer  idle  persons 
than  many  countries, 
for  usually  there  is 
work  for  everyone. 
One  day  two  men 
sat  on  a  bench  in 
Central  Park,  New 
York  City.  One  was 
a  tramp  who  lived  by 
begging.  The  other 
was  a  broad-shoul- 
dered young  man 
who  was  just  out  of 
college.  He  had  been 
looking  for  work  for 
more  than  a  week, 
but  nobody  seemed 
to  be  in  need  of 
young  men.  The  man  who  wouldn't  work  and  the  one  who 
couldn't  find  work  fell  into  conversation.  The  tramp  said  a 
person  was  foolish  to  work  when  an  hour's  begging  would 
yield  a  living.  The  young  man's  eyes  caught  fire.  "That's 
where  you're  wrong,"  he  said.  "I  may  not  be  needed  in 


Copr.  Life  Publishing  Co. 

Useless  Citizens  —  an  Idle  Rich  Man  and  an 
Idle  Poor  Man 


260  MY  COUNTRY 

New  York,  but  I've  plowed  many  a  five  hours  on  a  stretch, 
and  I  can  do  it  again.  The  country  was  made  before  the 
city,  and  I  guess  that's  where  I  belong.  Anyway,  there 
is  work  on  the  farm,  and  that's  where  I  am  going.  In 
America  young  men  like  me  ought  not  to  sit  around  looking 
at  park  scenery  all  day  long." 

27.  Workers   must  often   seek  work.    Men  are  wasting 
themselves  and  keeping  their  town  or  city  poor  if  they  stay 
where  there  is  no  work  for  them.    In  New  York  City  there 
is  every  year  a  terrible  waste  of  people.    Strong,  eager  men 
and  women  come  from  far  countries  to  make  their  homes  here. 
Many  of  them  wander  to  the  crowded  section  of  the  cities 
where  there  is  little  work.    They  do  not  know  that  work 
waits' for  them  miles  to  the  west  and  south.    They  live  in 
a  few  rooms,  they  have  little  food.    Their  strong  bodies  and 
their  great  courage  are  wasted  in  an  overcrowded  city.    Im- 
migrant societies  are  trying  to  prevent  this  waste  of  men, 
and  perhaps  in  a  few  years  some  way  will  be  found  to  tell 
each  foreigner  where  the  right  kind  of  work  awaits  him. 

Partly  Wasted  People 

28.  A  young  man  who  might  be  building  bridges  is  partly 
wasted  if  he  is  flagging  trains.    A  man  who  drives  a  grocery 
wagon  is  partly  wasted  if  he  has  the   ability  to  manage 
a  store.     Every   bit   of   ability  that   a   person   has   should 
be    used   for  the   good    of   himself  and   his  neighbors.    If 
Lincoln  had  not  made  use  of  his  ability  to  tell  humorous 
stories,  he  would  not  have  been  as  successful  as  he  was. 
Many  a  time  one  of  his  stories  changed  a  possible  enemy 
into  a  friend. 


EFFICIENCY  —  THRIFT  261 

29.  Unskilled  hands  and  untrained  brains  are  an  expense 
that  no  town  in  the  United  States  can  afford.    As  you  have 
already  learned,  that  is  why  we  have  schools.    The  vocational 
school,  especially,  is  intended  to  prevent  waste  by  training 
boys  and  girls  to  do  some  kind  of  work  well.    Shoe  factories 
often  have  schools  of  their  own  to  teach  unskilled  workers. 
Business  men  have  discovered  that  it  is  wasting  time  and 
valuable  materials  to  have  untrained  employees.   Stores  know 
that  untrained  salesmen  lose  customers.    Our  towns  and  cities 
need  workers  who  are  using  all  their  powers,  not  using  half 
and  wasting  half. 

Wasted  Ideas 

30.  Perhaps  towns  suffer  from  wasted  ideas  as  much  as 
from  wasted  money.    If  a  man  sees  how  the  main  business 
street  of  his  town  or  city  can  be  made  more  attractive,  unless 
he  shares  this  idea  with  the  voters  and  does  what  he  can  to 
put  it  into  action  he  is  wasting  it.    In  a  small  but  prosperous 
town  of  the  Middle  West  all  the  best  young  people  were 
leaving  their  homes  for  the  city.    The  banks,  the  stores,  and 
the  factories  found  it  difficult  to  get  the  right  kind  of  clerks, 
bookkeepers,  and  other  workers.    The  principal  of  the  high 
school  one  day  met  a  business  man  on  the  street  and  said : 
"  I  heard  you  say  that  the  town  was  running  down  because 
all  the  best  young  people  went  to  the  city  to  find  work. 
I  can  tell  you  how  to  keep  them  here.    Open  up  golf  links, 
tennis  courts,  and  a  skating  field  on  the  edge  of  the  town. 
Have  an  attractive  little  clubhouse  there.    Let  all  the  young 
people  join  this  club  by  paying  a  small  fee.    We  sometimes 
forget  that  we  all  need  to  play.    It  would  n't  hurt  the  rest 
of  us  to  have  a  recreation  club. 


262 


MY  COUNTRY 


31.  "That  is  one  thing.  Another  is  to  make  your  town 
more  attractive.  Your  stores  are  dimly  lighted  and  poorly 
arranged.  The  only  restaurant  you  have  is  not  even  clean. 
In  the  city  it  is  a  pleasure  just  to  walk  through  the  stores, 


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A  Time-Saving  Device 

the  restaurants  make  it  a  point  to  be  attractive,  and  the  parks 
offer  every  opportunity  for  tennis  and  other  outdoor  pastimes." 
32.  This  principal's  idea  was  worth  a  great  deal  to  that 
town.  The  "business  man  repeated  it  to  another,  he  to  an- 
other, and  finally  they  organized  a  Village  Improvement 
Association.  They  laid  out  the  tennis  courts  and  golf  links, 


EFFICIENCY  —  THEIFT  263 

and  even  brightened  up  their  stores.  This  was  the  beginning 
of  better  things.  If  the  principal  had  kept  this  idea  to 
himself,  it  would  certainly  have  been  wasted. 

One  Boy's  Idea  that  was  not  Wasted 

33.  A  boy  who  lived  in  a  crowded  city  section  where  the 
only  playground  was  the  street  had  been  told  that  it  was 
against  the  law  to  play  there.    But  like  every  normal  boy 
he  wanted  his  play.     One  day  when  delivering  papers  he 
passed  a  vacant  lot  in  which  was  a  large  elm  tree.    What  a 
splendid  place  for  a  big  swing,  he  thought.    Then  came  an 
idea.    Why  should  not  the  boys  on  his  street  have  the  use 
of  this  whole  field,  tree  and  all,  every  afternoon  ?    He  found 
out  who  owned  it  and,  with  three  of  his  friends,  called  on 
the  owner.    They  finally  made  this  arrangement :  They  were 
to   send  to   the  owner  a  list  of  twenty  boys  who  wished 
to  use  the  field  for  a  playground.     Every  boy  on  this  list 
was  to  pledge  himself  not  to  injure  the  tree,  the  fence,  or 
the  adjoining  property,  and  not  to  be  rude  or  noisy.    The 
policeman  on  that  "beat  was  to  have  a  list  of  the  boys,  and 
no   boy  not  on  the  list  could    use  the  field.    As  long  as 
neither  the  policeman  nor  the  near-by  families  complained, 
the  playground  was  to  be  at  the  disposal  of  the  boys. 

34.  This  idea  was  too  good  to  be  wasted.    But  it  is  easy 
to  understand  that  ideas  like  this  benefit  nobody  unless  they 
are  used.    Ideas,  like  money,  should  be  set  to  work.    A  poor 
man's  ideas  rimy  be  worth  more  to  the  town  than  the  dollars 
of  the  rich  man.    If  you  have  a  good  idea,  use  it.    If  you 
cannot  use  it  yourself,  pass  it  on  to  someone  who  can.    Jn 
this  way  you  will  be  proving  yourself  a  valuable  citizen. 


264 


MY  COUNTRY 


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It  is  the  People's  Savings  that  make  Beautiful  Streets  Possible 

Thrift  and  Beauty 

35.  Why  is  it  that  men  keep  on  working  after  they  have 
saved  enough  for  the  "  rainy  day  "  ?  Why  do  young  men 
and  women  strive  ceaselessly  for  larger  salaries,  fatter  pay 


EFFICIENCY  —  THRIFT  265 

envelopes  ?  There  are  two  reasons.  One  is  that  hard  work 
is  like  tonic  to  the  brain  and  body.  Without  work  the  brain 
would  grow  dull  and  the  body  flabby.  The  rich  man  needs 
to  keep  at  his  work  year  after  year  just  as  other  men  need 
to.  But  there  is  still  another  reason  —  the  most  important 
one.  Children  and  men  and  women  crave  beauty.  Animals 
are  satisfied  if  they  can  get  food  and  can  protect  themselves 
against  heat  and  cold.  Men  need  more  than  the  bare  necessi- 
ties of  life.  It  is  not  enough  for  us  to  sit  down  to  food :  we 
want  dainty  dishes,  clean  fine  linen,  and  attractively  served 
food.  When  we  have  finished  our  day's  work,,  we  are  not 
content  to  sit  doing  nothing.  We  are  eager  to  read  a  good 
story,  to  hear  beautiful  music,  to  see  beautiful  pictures,  or  to 
look  at  the  things  that  please  the  eye. 

36.  Did  you  ever  stop  to  think  that  without  thrift  there 
could  be  no  beautiful  libraries,  no  -wonderful  paintings,  no 
perfectly  trained  orchestras,  no  beautiful  clothes  ?    Artists 
could  not  paint  pictures,  authors  could  not  write  stories, 
musicians  could  not  give  concerts,  unless  there  was  some- 
one to  pay  for  or  buy  these  things.    If  the  artist  could  find 
no  one  to  buy  his  pictures,  he  would  have  to  stop  painting. 
If  thousands  of  people  did  not  buy  books,  authors  could  not 
write  the  poems  and  stories  that  are  full  of  beauty.    When 
out  of  your  savings  you  buy  a  ticket  to  hear  a  great  singer, 
or  a  book  that  gives  you  enjoyment,  you  are  helping  to  pay 
for  beauty. 

37.  Every  true  American  wants  to  have  a  home  full  of 
beauty ;  he  wants  to  live  in  a  town  whose  streets  are  shaded 
with  beautiful  trees  and  whose  houses  are  well  kept  and 
attractive.    A  man  who  was  planning  to  move  his  family 
from  a  town  where  house  rents  were  low  to  a  town  where 


266  MY  COUNTRY 

rents  were  high  was  asked  by  a  friend  if  he  was  not  extra  va- 
gant.  He  said,  "No,  I'm  willing  to  work  harder  every  day 
in  the  year  just  to  live  on  an  elm-shaded  street."  The  sooner 
a  person  begins  to  save,  the  sooner  he  can  make  his  home 
and  his  town  beautiful. 

38.  No  town  or  home  is   successful  unless  it  has  real 
beauty.     If  every  family  in  each  town  or  city  would  see 
that  the  yards  and  the  outside  of  the  houses  were  neat  and 
attractive,  there   would   be  more  enjoyment   in   living   in 
them.    Men  who  own  their  homes  usually  take  better  care 
of  them  than  those  who  live  in  rented  houses.    This  is  a 
mistake,  for  the  families  that  pay  rent  are  as  much  a  part 
of  the  town  as  those  that  own  their  houses.    There  is  some- 
thing wrong  with  the  man  who  is  content  to  live  in  a  house 
with  dirty  paint,  a  rickety  piazza,  and  a  tumble-down  fence. 

39.  A  lecturer  who  had  traveled  in  every  state  once  said 
that  he  could  go  through  the  streets  of  a  strange  town  and 
tell  which  houses  were  occupied  by  their  owners  and  which 
by  tenants.    All  the  down-at-the-heel,  forlorn   places   were 
the  ones  occupied  by  tenants.     No  person  who  has  failed 
to  learn  how  to  care  for  another  person's  property  is  fitted 
to  have  property  of  his  own.    Why  should  not  every  family 
"make  believe"  that  the  house  or  apartment  which  they 
rent  belongs  to  them  ?    Then  when  they  can  buy  or  build  a 
house  of  their  own,  they  will  know  how  to  care  for  it. 

40.  In  our  eagerness  to  have  beautiful  things  we  must 
not  forget  that  it  is  the  long  years  spent  in  huge,  noisy 
factories,  deep,  dark  mines,  narrow  little  offices,  that  make 
them  possible.    A  washerwoman  one  day  said  that  she  was 
willing  to  work  over  the  steaming  tubs  so  that  her  daughter 
could  get  an  education  and  would  not  have  to  "  soil  her 


EFFICIENCY  —  THRIFT 


267 


It  is  out  of  Savings  that  Beautiful  Homes  are  Made 

hands."  This  is  not  the  true  American  spirit.  There  must 
always  be  dirty  hands  and  sweaty  brows  before  homes  and 
towns  can  be  made  beautiful 


268  MY  COUNTRY 

QUESTIONS  AND  PROBLEMS 

1.  What  is  the  difference  between  patching  and  mending? 
2.  What  clothing  has  to  be  mended  each  week  ?  3.  Who  does 
this  mending  in  your  family  ?  4.  Ask  your  mother  to  help  you 
estimate  how  much  money  the  weekly  family  mending  basket 
saves. 

6.  Is  your  family  saving  for  a  "rainy  day"?  If  so,  tell 
how.  6.  Is  any  money  being  put  in  the  bank  toward  a  college 
education  for  you  ?  7.  Are  you  earning  any  money  ?  Are  you 
saving  any  ? 

8.  Does  your  father  own  the  house  you  live  in  ?   If  he  does, 
ask  him  how  he  got  the  money  that  went  for  the  first  payment. 

9.  Name  several  different  ways  in  which  your  grandfathers 
and  great-grandfathers  were  thrifty. 

10.  What  is  evaporated  apple  ?  What  can  this  be  used  for? 
11.  Bring  to  class  a  good  recipe  for  using  evaporated  apple. 
Let  it  be  so  clear  that  anyone  can  follow  it  easily. 

12.  Suppose  that  a  person  says  he  prefers  to  spend  all  his 
money  from  week  to  week.  When  some  friend  urges  him  to 
save,  he  says  he  will  take  trouble  when  it  comes,  but  will  not 
go  to  meet  it.  What  is  wrong  ?  13.  Have  you  ever  heard  any- 
one talk  this  way  ?  If  you  have,  tell  about  it. 

14.  Why  must  a  patriot,  whether  man  or  woman,  plan  the 
spending  of  his  money  according  to  the  needs  of  the  country? 

15.  What  is  waste?    In  an  earlier  chapter  you  have  learned 
that  ignorance,  like  waste,  is  a  dangerous  inside  enemy  of  the 
United  States.    Let  half  the  class  write  a  two-hundred-word 
composition  to  prove  that  "  Ignorance  is  the  Greatest  Enemy 
of  the  United  States,"  and  the  other  half  prove  that  "Waste  is 
the  Greatest  Enemy  of  the  United  States." 

16.  How  was  the  whole  country  startled  into  saving  in  the 
year  1917?    17.  How  did  this  affect  your  family?    18.  Tell 


EFFICIENCY  —  THKIFT  269 

how  your  family  economized  in  sugar.  19.  What  sweet  prod- 
ucts are  there  besides  sugar  ?  20.  How  can  these  be  used  to 
save  sugar  ? 

21.  Is  it  waste  to  let  one  slice  of  bread  spoil  each  day  ? 
Explain  your  answer. 

22.  How  can  your  carelessness  waste  the  labor  of  a  large 
number  of  persons  ?   23.  Did  you  ever  make  a  garment  or  cook 
something  for  the  table  that  was  spoiled  or  lost  in  some  way  ? 
If  so,  tell  about  it. 

24.  In  time  of  war  would  it  be  patriotic  to  use  mills  and 
coal  and  workers  to  make  jewelry  and  silk  scarfs  ? 

25.  Explain  how  war  makes  food  and  fuel  scarce  and  costly. 
26.  Why  did  we  have  to  send  food  to  France  in  1917  ? 

27.  Why  did  America  once  have  the  fattest  garbage  can  in 
the  world  ? 

28.  Explain  how  thoughtlessness  and  selfishness  can  ceuse 
waste  in  the  family ;  in  the  town ;  in  the  nation. 

29.  Explain  how  storms  and  floods  waste  lives  and  property. 
30.  What  do  we  mean  when  we  say  "  Trouble  is  certain  to  come 
to  everyone  "  ? 

31.  Explain  as  fully  as  possible  how  each  of  the  following 
is  a  help  to  a  person  and  also  to  the  town  or  nation :  (1)  a 
savings  bank,  (2)  an  insurance  company,  (3)  a  postal  savings 
bank,  (4)  a  thrift  stamp,  (5)  a  cooperative  bank  or  a  building 
and  loan  association.  32.  Does  your  school  have  a  school  savings 
bank  ?  If  so,  write  out  a  brief  explanation  of  how  it  is  run. 

33.  Is  idleness  waste?  Explain  your  answer.  34.  Why 
must  money  be  kept  at  work?  35.  Explain  how  a  man  with 
$100,000  can  keep  his  money  at  work.  36.  How  can  a  person 
who  has  saved  only  one  dollar  keep  that  at  work  ? 

37.  What  is  a  war  savings  stamp?  Tell  how  you  saved 
money  to  buy  these  stamps. 


270  MY  COUNTRY 

38.  What  is  hoarding  ?  What  is  the  difference  between  a 
person  who  hoards  and  one  who  saves  ?  39.  In  a  large  grocery 
store  in  1917  this  sign  appeared  :  "  Don't  be  a  hog.  Buy  only 
what  you  need."  Why  was  this  sign  put  up  ?  Do  you  know 
any  other  place  where  it  should  have  been  put  up  ? 

40.  How  much  gold  and  silver  does  a  bank  keep  in  its 
vaults  ?    The  text  does  not  tell  you.    See  if  you  can  find  out. 

41.  What  is  the  difference  between  disuse  and  wrong  use  of 
money  ? 

42.  Is  a  forty-thousand-dollar  public  library  an  extrava- 
gance for  a  town  ?    Explain  your  answer. 

43.  When  would  it  be  an  extravagance  for  a  person  to  pay 
two  hundred  dollars  for  a  piano  ?   When  would  it  not  be  an  ex- 
travagance for  a  person  to  pay  a  thousand  dollars  for  a  piano  ? 

44 .  Has  your  town  or  city  ever  been  extravagant  ?  If  so,  how  ? 
45.  Has  your  town  or  city  ever  been  stingy  ?    If  so,  how  ? 

46.  How  can  people  be  wasted  ?  47.  Can  a  person  be  partly 
wasted  ?  Explain  your  answer.  48.  Tell  of  some  person  (do 
not  give  his  name)  who  you  think  is  partly  wasted.  Tell  how 
even  now  he  could  save  the  wasted  half  of  himself."  49.  How 
can  you  begin  now,  in  school,  to  prevent  wasting  any  part  of 
yourself  in  future  years  ? 

50.  What  is  a  beggar  ?    What  is  a  tramp  ?    Are  these  per- 
sons a  help  or  a  menace  to  a  town  ?    Why  ? 

51.  Can  a  person  always  find  work?    What  must  one  do 
when  he  cannot  find  work  in  his  own  town  ? 

52.  Farmers  in  every  part  of  the  country  find  it  difficult  to 
get  helpers.    Why  is  this  ? 

53.  How  are  workers  often  wasted  in  the  cities? 

54.  What  is  a  wasted  idea  ?   55.  How  can  even  an  idea  help  a 
town  ?    56.  Is  a  poor  man  as  likely  to  have  a  good  idea  as  a  rich 
man  ?  57 .  Have  you  any  ideas  that  would  help  your  town  or  city  ? 


EFFICIENCY  —  THRIFT  271 

58.  Explain  how  thrift  makes  beautiful  things  possible. 
69.  Not  all  beautiful  things  are  costly.  Sunsets,  trees,  flowers, 
are  gifts  of  nature.  Name  others  that  are  free  to  everyone. 

60.  How  could  you  make  your  home  more  beautiful? 
61.  How  could  your  street  be  made  more  attractive  ?  62.  What 
is  the  most  beautiful  building  in  your  town  ?  Whose  money 
paid  for  it  ? 

63.  Beautiful  sounds  can  give  us  much  pleasure.  Here  is 
one  list  which  a  class  made  out  at  the  suggestion  of  the  teacher. 
Can  you  add  to  it  ?  64.  Which  of  these  require  money  to 
enjoy  ? 

The  wind  blowing  through  pine  trees 

The  music  of  a  church  organ 

The  musical  strike  of  a  clock 

The  breaking  of  waves  on  the  shore 

The  singing  of  a  boy  choir 

An  echo 

The  laughter  of  a  child 

The  ringing  of  a  deep-toned  bell 

65.  Explain  how  it  is  always  hard  work  on  somebody's  part 
that  makes  beautiful  houses,  attractive  furniture,  fine  paintings, 
and  other  beautiful  things  possible.  66.  The  ocean,  mountains, 
lakes,  and  all  the  other  beauties  of  the  ou1>of-door  world  are 
free,  but  it  often  takes  money  to  get  to  these  beautiful  places. 
Find  out  how  much  it  would  cost  you  to  go  to  Niagara  Falls, 
or  to  the  Grand  Canon,  or  to  some  seashore  resort.  How  long 
would  it  take  you  to  save  enough  money  for  this  trip  ? 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

EFFICIENCY  —  HEALTH 

Taking  Account  of  Stock 

1.  Once  a  year  or  oftener  every  business  takes  "account 
of  stock."    It   finds  out   how  much   money  it   has  made, 
how   much   its   expenses   have   been,   what   improvements 
have  been  made  and  what  mistakes.    In  other  words,  it 
measures  itself.    By  taking  its  measure  at  regular  intervals, 
it  can  correct  its  mistakes  before  it  is  too  late. 

When  the  United  States  took  Account  of  Stock  of  its  Health 

2.  It  is  not  often  that  the  whole  nation  has  an  opportu- 
nity to  measure  itself.    But  in  1917  the  United  States  took 
.account  of  stock  of  its  health.   The  result  was  startling.    For 
weeks,  in  every  part  of  the  country,  the  young  men  between 
the  ages  of  twenty-one  and  thirty-one  had  been  tested  for 
service  in  the  army  and  three  out  of  every  ten  had  failed  to 
pass  the  physical  examination.    Thousands  of  young  men 
who  supposed  they  had  perfect  health  were  told  by  the  army 
doctors  that  they  had  weak  hearts  or  lungs,  or  that  stomach, 
liver,  or  kidneys  were  not  in  good  condition. 

A  Terrible  Mistake 

3.  A  terrible  mistake  had  been  made  somewhere.   Every- 
body said :  "  Something  must  be  done  at  once.    We  may  be 
-able  to  help  England,  France,  and  Italy  defeat  Germany, 

272 


EFFICIENCY  —  HEALTH  273 

but  if  we  had  to  fight  a  powerful  enemy  alone,  surely  we 
could  not  win  with  a  third  of  our  men  of  fighting  age 
weak  and  sickly."  Weak  bodies  are  poor  fighting  machines. 
There  come  times  in  war  when  soldiers  must  march  for 
days  and  nights  in  blinding  rain  or  snow,  with  scarcely  any 
food,  and  then  without  a  moment's  rest  meet  the  enemy. 
Will  a  weak  body  stand  a  test  like  this  ?  No  soldier  wants- 
to  fall  by  the  wayside  and  miss  the  great  battle  in  which  his. 
comrades  may  win  glory.  Unless  he  began  to  build  up  a 
strong,  clean  body  in  the  seventh  and  eighth  grades  he 
may  never  reach  the  battle  front  of  life. 

Success  may  depend  on  your  Health 

4.  When  a  successful  lawyer  was  asked  to  explain  to- 
grammar-school  boys  what  they  must  do  to  become  suc- 
cessful men,  this  is  one  of  the  things  he  said :  "  Train  your 
body.    That  is  what  you  must  do  most  of  your  fighting  with. 
If  that  fails  you  at  the  wrong  time,  you  have  failed  indeed. 
Some  day  the  crisis  will  come  in  your  career.    You  will  have 
a  lawsuit  that  will  decide  your  future.    To  win  it  you  must 
work  one  night,  two  nights,  perhaps  longer,  without  sleep 
or  food.    Will  your  body  stand  it  ? "    In  every  person's  life 
there  comes  the  time  when  success   or  failure  hangs   in 
the  balance.    Perhaps  for  days  you  must  be  at  your  best,, 
without  sleep  or  rest.    Will  your  body  stand  it  ? 

Who  will  fight  the  Future  Enemies  of  the  United  States  ? 

5.  If,  ten  years  from  now,  an  enemy  should  attack  the 
United  States,  it  is  the  boys  who  are  in  school  to-day  who- 
would  have  to  fight,  to  raise  crops  for  the  army,  to  make- 


274  MY  COUNTRY 

munitions.  It  is  the  girls  who  would  have  to  be  nurses  and 
do  the  work  of  the  men  who  had  gone  to  fight.  Every  boy 
should  train  his  body  as  if  he  expected  to  be  a  soldier,  every 
girl  should  train  hers  as  if  she  would  one  day  be  a  Eed 
Cross  nurse.  In  America  the  people  govern  their  own  towns, 
cities,  and  the  whole  nation.  If  the  boys  and  girls  of  to-day 
are  to  do  their  share  of  this  work,  they  will  need  the  same 
kind  of  sturdy  bodies  that  soldiers  must  have. 

America  for  the  Strong 

6.  America  is  not  a  country  for  the  weak,  and  never  has 
been.    If  the  children  of  the  United  States  grow  up  into 
young  men  and  women  with  sickly  bodies,  then  when  the 
nation  is  in  peril  and  we  need  a  George  Washington,  an 
Abraham  Lincoln,  a  General  Grant,  a  Commodore  Dewey, 
a  Theodore  Roosevelt,  a  Woodrow  Wilson,  we  shall  not  have 
them.   Did  you  know  that  most  of  the  great  Americans  were 
strong  and  healthy  ?    When  a  -boy  was  asked  one  day  if 
Lincoln  would  have  been  a  great  man  if  he  had  been  sickly, 
he  answered,  "  He  would  not  have  been  sickly."  Probably  this 
boy's  answer  was  right.    The  right  kind  of  boy  will  do  his 
best  to  make  and  keep  his  muscle  hard  and  his  heart  strong. 

7.  Theodore  Roosevelt  might  have  been  too  sickly  a  man 
ever  to  be  president,  for  he  was  a  delicate  boy.    But  the 
delicate  boy  determined  to  be  a  rugged  man.    He  took  him- 
self away  from  the  comforts  of  an  easy  life  into  the  rugged 
West.    There  he  won  health  after  a  long,  hard  fight.    Prob- 
ably  no   man    in  this    country   has   worked    harder    than 
President  Wilson  worked  after  war  was  declared  on  Germany. 
But  at  the  end  of  six  months  he  was  still  in  perfect  health. 
Only  a  well-trained  body  could  have  made  this  possible. 


EFFICIENCY  —  HEALTH  275 

Health  is  Necessary  to  win  Success  and  to  hold  it 

8.  A  college  professor  was  once  asked  if  he  could  explain 
why  so  many  promising  students  failed  when  they  went  out 
into  the  world.  "  It  is  a  matter  of  health,  chiefly,"  he  said; 
"  it  takes  almost  perfect  health  to  win  success  and,  if  such 


Copr.  Publishers'  Photo  Service 

Camp  Life  arid  Out-of-door  Sports  help  make  Rugged  Boys  and  Girls 


a  thing  were  possible,  even  more  health  to  hold  success. 
Success,  you  know,  cannot  be  won  once  for  all.  It  has  to 
be  re-won  every  year." 

9.  Sometimes  a  man  with  genius  will  succeed  in  spite 
of  a  weak  body.  Genius  is  often  superior  to  all  obstacles, 
even  ill  health.  But  genius  is  rare.  Most  of  us  must  be  sim- 
ple workers  in  the  office,  the  factory,  or  on  a  farm.  Genius 
will  not  come  to  our  assistance.  We  must  rely  on  brain  and 


276 


MY  COUNTRY 


body.  One  of  the  largest  electric  companies  in  the  United 
States  requires  every  person  who  applies  for  a  position 
to  be  examined  by  the  company's  physician.  To  be  accepted 
the  young  man  or  woman  must  be  90  per  cent  well  and 
strong.  Some  of  the  large  city  department  stores  also  refuse 
to  hire  any  person  who  cannot  pass  a  severe  physical 


A  Kitchen  like  This  helps  keep  the  Family  Well 

examination.  The  time  may  come  when  all  important  busi- 
ness houses  will  refuse  to  employ  any  person  who  cannot 
prove  that  his  body  is  well  trained  and  capable  of  many 
years  of  hard  work. 

10.  It  is  especially  difficult  for  a  man  who  drinks  or 
smokes  to  excess  either  to  get  or  to  keep  a  good  position. 
Physiologists  have  proved  beyond  a  doubt  that  alcohol  kills 
more  men  and  causes  more  misery  than  war  has  ever  done. 


EFFICIENCY  —  HEALTH  277 

The  young  men  who  drink  are  bound  to  fail.  The  cleanest, 
most  prosperous  cities  are  those  which  have  no  saloons. 
They  have  fewer  men  out  of  work,  fewer  doctor's  bills. 
Alcohol  is  known  to  be  man's  deadly  enemy.  Every  wise 
man  lets  it  alone.  Every  wise  community  refuses  to  give 
it  houseroom. 

How  Hardships  help  the  Body 

11.  Kemember  that  it  is  the  right  kind  of  hard  train- 
ing that  makes  the  brain  capable  of  thinking  out  battles, 
and  also  that  it  is  the  right  kind   of  hard  training  that 
builds  up  a  body   that  can  fight  battles.    Get  from  your 
library  a  life  of  one  of  these  men  —  George  Washington, 
Benjamin  Franklin,  Abraham  Lincoln,  Eobert  E.  Lee,  Ulysses 
S.   Grant,    Theodore   Roosevelt  —  and  a  book  which  gives 
a  detailed   account   of   life   at   West   Point   or  Annapolis. 
You  will  find  in  these  how  successful  men  have  trained 
their  bodies. 

12.  When  Washington  was    sixteen    years    old    he   was 
learning  to  survey  in  the  wilderness.    Instead  of  complain- 
ing of  the  life,  he  felt  proud  of  the  hardships  that  he  had 
to  undergo,  as  a  part  of  one  of  his  letters  shows : 

Since  you  received  my  letter  in  October  last,  I  have  not 
sleep'd  above  three  nights  or  four  in  a  bed,  but,  after  walking 
a  good  deal  all  the  day,  I  lay  down  before  the  fire  upon  a  little 
hay,  straw,  fodder,  or  bearskin,  whichever  is  to  be  had  ...  I 
have  never  had  my  clothes  off,  but  lay  and  sleep  in  them, 
except  the  few  nights  I  have  lay'n  in  Frederick  Town. 

Would  you  be  willing  to  go  through  training  like  this  to 
get  a  strong  body  ? 


278  MY  COUNTRY 

A  Weak  Body  may  spread  Disease 

13.  Every  person  should  want  a  healthy  body  not  only 
for   his    own    sake    but    also    for    the   good    of    others.    A 
sickly   body  yields   more   quickly  than    a   healthy  one   to 
disease   germs.    The  person  who  neglects   his   health  and 
becomes  a  victim  of  typhoid  or  tuberculosis,  or  some  other 
disease,  is  a  spreader  of  disease  and  a  real  menace  to  the 
community. 

Some  Important  Health  Rules 

14.  Here  are  some  health  suggestions  that  you  should 
begin  to  follow  at  once : 

1.  Have  your  father  or  mother  take  you  to  a  good  doctor 
once   a  year  to  have   a  thorough  physical  examination.    By 
thorough  physical  examination  is  meant  having  eyes,  ears, 
nose,  throat,  lungs,  heart,  liver,  kidneys,  and  spine  tested.    Be 
sure  that  your  doctor  is  reliable. 

2.  Go  to  a  good  dentist  twice  a  year  to  have  your  teeth 
examined. 

3.  Be   sure   to   keep  your    spine    straight   by   sitting   and 
standing  correctly.    A  twisted  spine  will  affect  all  the  organs 
of  the  body.    Try  to  grow  a  "  military  "  back. 

4.  What  you  grow  on  is  what  you  eat,  drink,  and  breathe. 
Breathe  fresh  air.     Drink  much  water  and  milk,  but  no  tea 
or  coffee  or  alcoholic  beverages.    Eat  only  wholesome,  well- 
cooked  food.    Soggy  bread  and  greasy  meat  may  lose  you  an 
important  position  in  years  to  come. 

5.  Eat  slowly.    Go  without  a  meal  rather  than  half  chew 
your  food. 

6.  Eat  only  "  balanced"  meals.    The  Department  of  Agri- 
culture  at   Washington   says   that   a   balanced   meal  is   one 


EFFICIENCY  —  HEALTH  279 

that  contains  some  article  of  food  from  each  of  these  five 
groups : 

Group  1.  All  fruits  and  vegetables  valuable  for  mineral  salts 
which  they  contain,  since  these  are  necessary  elements  in  the 
building  of  bones,  teeth,  etc. 

Group  2.  Protein  foods,  such  as  meat,  fish,  milk,  eggs,  dried  peas, 
beans,  cheese,  etc.  These  are  also  valuable  for  building  material. 

Group  3.  Starchy  foods,  such  as  cereals,  breadstuffs,  macaroni, 
and  rice. 

Group  4.  Sugary  foods,  such  as  honey,  sirups,  molasses,  sugars, 
jams,  and  jellies. 

Group  5.    Fatty  foods,  such  as  butter,  suet,  lard,  cooking  oils. 

The  board  of  education  of  one  state  gives  these  suggestions 
for  balanced  meals : 

1.  For  breakfast  have,  if  possible,  a  hearty  cereal  with  milk,  toast 
or  muffins  with  peanut  butter,  and  fruit,  either  raw  or  stewed. 

2.  For  lunch  or  supper  serve  (1)  a  cream  soup  with  a  hearty 
bread  (such  as  corn  bread)  ;    or  (2)  bread  and  a  substantial  salad 
(such  as  a  potato  salad)  ;  or  (3)  a  dish  made  from  left  overs,  cooked 
with  cheese,  and  apple  sauce  or  prunes. 

3.  For   dinner  serve   (1)  a  heavy  soup  (such  as   chowder  or  a 
black-bean  soup)  with  biscuits  and  dessert ;  or  (2)  a  meat  or  a  dish 
with  potatoes,  a  vegetable,  and  dessert ;  or  (3)  broth,  cheese  and 
macaroni,  a  vegetable,  and  a  salad. 

Learn  as  much  as  possible  about  the  right  kinds  of  food  and 
how  to  prepare  them. 

7.  Do  not  smoke.    "  Smoker's  heart "  kept  many  a  young 
man  from  sailing  to  France  in  1917  to  fight  in  the  world's 
greatest  war.     Since  the  day  when  a  physician  told  General 
Pershing  that  tobacco  was   injuring  his  health,  he  has  not 
smoked  once. 

8.  Sleep  at  least  eight  hours  a  day  in  a  well-ventilated  room. 

9.  Begin  at  once  to  learn  some  game  or  sport  which  will 
keep  you  out  of  doors.    Exercise  hardens  the  body  and  is 


280  MY  COUNTRY 

necessary  for  a  person  who  is  to  do  vigorous  work.  Walking 
out  of  doors  is  not  sufficient  exercise.  Basket  ball,  baseball, 
tennis,  swimming,  climbing,  vaulting,  skating,  horseback 
riding,  gardening,  yard  work  (mowing  the  lawn,  keeping  it 
free  from  dandelions  and  other  weeds),  washing  windows 
from  the  outside,  are  some  of  the  ways  of  getting  outdoor 
exercise.  Get  it  either  by  play  or  by  work,  or  in  both  ways. 


A  Kitchen  like  This  is  a  Menace  to  Health 

10.  Be  happy.    If  you  are  often  sad  or  angry  you  will  find 
it  impossible  to  keep  your  body  in  good  condition.   You  cannot 
be  angry  just  "inside  your  brain."    You  may  not  know  it,  but 
you  are  angry  with  your  whole  body.    If  all  the  nerves  are 
quivering  with  anger,  they  are  not  attending  to  their  regular 
work.    The  next  best  thing  to  being  happy  is  making  believe 
that  you  are. 

11.  Work  hard,  study  hard,  and  play  hard.    Hard  things 
are  good  for  you.   Remember  that  all  your  heroes  and  heroines 
are  those  who  have  done  hard  things  well. 


EFFICIENCY  —  HEALTH  281 

12.  Never  get  discouraged  about  your  body.    Even  if  the 
doctor  tells  you  that  you  have  a  twisted  spine,  short  eyesight, 
and  a  weak  digestion,  the  chances  are  that  if  you  will  deter- 
mine to  straighten  your  spine,  to  train  your  eyes,  and  to 
discipline  your  stomach,  you  can  do  so.    If  your  doctor  says 
that  he  cannot  tell  you  how  to  help  yourself,  find  one  who  can. 

13.  If  you  have   some  physical   defect  which   cannot  be 
wholly  overcome,  make  the  rest  of  the  body  as  perfect  as 
possible.    Wonderful  things  can  be  done  with  two  thirds  of  a 
body  if  that  part  is  perfectly  trained.    Francis  Parkman,  the 
historian,  did  most  of  his  hard  work  while  his  body  was  racked 
with  pain.    Helen  Keller  has  given  courage  to  every  person 
whose  body  is  not  strong  and  perfect. . 

14.  What  are  you  planning  to  do  when  you  leave  school  ? 
Different  occupations  require  different  physical  qualifications. 
If  you   have  weak  lungs,  you  must  avoid  work  indoors  if 
possible.    If  your  spine  has  a  twist,  your  work  must  not  make 
this  worse.    Find  out,  at  your  earliest  opportunity,  whether 
you  can  fit  your  body  to  do  the  work  that  you  are  planning  to 
take  up.    If  you  cannot,  change  your  plans. 

To  keep  Well  a  Person  needs  the  Help  of  Town  and  State 

15.  No  matter  how  carefully  a  person  may  have  trained 
his  body  he  cannot  always  protect  himself  against  disease 
and  accident.  He  may  swallow  deadly  germs  with  his  food 
or  in  water.    He  may  breathe  into  his  lungs  the  germs  of 
tuberculosis  or  of  pneumonia.    He  may  slip  on  an  icy  pave- 
ment and  break  a  limb.    There  are  unseen  enemies  always 
near  even  the  healthiest  person. 

16.  A  person  who  lives  in  a  great  city  drinks,  with  his 
breakfast,  milk  that  probably  came  from  a  dairy  many  miles 
away.    Disease  germs  are  often  carried  in  impure  milk.   How 
is  the  drinker  to  know  whether  the  milk  in  the  glass  before 


282  MY  COUNTRY 

him  is  pure  ?  Germs  have  no  taste.  He  might  swallow  hun- 
dreds of  them  and  never  know  it.  Deadly  poison  also  lurks 
in  tainted  food.  But  the  preserved  fruit  or  the  canned  vege- 
tables may  have  no  disagreeable  taste.  How,  then,  can  the 
eater  protect  himself  ? 

17.  It  is  here  that  the  town  and  state  have  to  come  to 
the  help  of  the  people.    They  have  passed  laws  forbidding 
farmers  to  keep  diseased  cows  or  butchers  to  kill  them  for 
food.    Only  pure  milk  can  be  sold.   Towns  must  furnish  pure 
drinking  water.    Waste  water  must  be  cared  for  so  as  not  to 
cause  or  spread  disease.    Storekeepers  cannot  sell  impure  or 
adulterated  foods.    Perishable  foods  cannot  be  kept  in  cold 
storage  indefinitely.    Sidewalks  must  be  kept  in  good  repair, 
and  ashes  or  sand  must  be  scattered  over  icy  pavements. 

The  Board  of  Health 

18.  The  most  important  of  these  good-health  Don'ts  and 
Musts  are  state  laws.     Some  of  them  are  city,  town,  and 
county  regulations.     We  have  learned  that   all  laws  must 
have  somebody  to  enforce  them.    Most  communities  there- 
fore have  a  board  of  health;  each  state  also  has  a  similar 
board,  whose  whole  duty  it  is  to  enforce  health  laws  and  to 
help  the  people  protect  themselves  from  disease  and  accident. 
The  local  board  usually  has  a  physician  to  see  that  pupils 
are  vaccinated,  to  report  and  care  for  contagious  cases,  to 
test  the  milk  that  is  delivered  by  milkmen  or  sold  in  stores, 
to  inspect  markets,  to  see  that  salesmen  are  clean,  and  that 
food  is  protected  from  flies  and  dust. 

19.  The  boards  of  health  are  also  information  spreaders. 
When  an  epidemic  of  infantile  paralysis  at  one  time  swept 


EFFICIENCY  —  HEALTH 


283 


over  the  country,  the  state  boards  sent  to  the  newspapers 
a  description  of  the  symptoms  of  the  disease  with  direc- 
tions for  fighting  it.  In  midsummer,  when  heat  is  excessive, 
many  state  and  local  boards  issue  special  instructions  for 
avoiding  heat  stroke  and  the  many  hot-weather  ailments. 


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Government  Inspectors  testing  Eggs 

The  State  Board's  Most  Important  Work 

20.  Perhaps  the  most  important  work  of  the  state  board 
of  health  is  helping  to  secure  pure  drinking  water  and  to 
dispose  of  sewage.  If  the  people  of  a  village  have  to  depend 
on  well  water,  then  from  time  to  time  this  must  be  tested. 
When  a  man  digs  a  new  well  or  wants  an  old  one  tested, 
he  gives  a  specimen  of  the  water  to  his  board  of  health, 


284  MY  COUNTKY 

which  usually  sends  it  to  the  offices  of  the  state  board 
of  health  at  the  capital.  There  it  is  analyzed  by  expert 
chemists.  If  a  town  discovers  that  most  of  its  wells  are 
impure,  it  must  do  one  of  two  things  —  either  condemn 
such  wells  and  install  a  system  of  "town"  water  or  find 
some  effective  way  of  taking  care  of  the  sewage.  It  is 
sewage  from  cesspools,  barns,  and  mills  that  is  most  often 
the  cause  of  impure  well  water.  When  wells  must  be 
used,  the  advice  of  the  board  of  health  should  be  followed 
as  to  their  proper  location. 

21.  Sooner  or  later  every  community  must  have  a  system 
of  sewers  and  a  central  water  supply.    The  state  board  of 
health  can  help  by  showing  how  to  filter  the  water  and  how 
to  carry  the  sewage  to  filter  beds  before  allowing  it  to  be 
carried  into  a  lake  or  a  stream.    If  one  town  were  allowed 
to  think  only  of  its  own  health,  it  might  turn  all  its  sew- 
age unfiltered  into  a  lake  from  which  other  towns  get  their 
drinking  water.     The  state,  by   seeing  that  the  sewage  is 
made  harmless  before  it  is  carried  into  the  lake,  and  that 
the  water  is  also  filtered  before  it  is  carried  into  other  towns 
as  drinking  water,  is  protecting  one  town  from  the  thought- 
lessness of  another.    We  have  discovered  in  almost   every 
chapter  in  this  book  that  selfishness  and  thoughtlessness 
are  real  enemies  of  our  country.    Without  the  help  of  laws 
and  boards  of  health  these  two  enemies  would  soon  kill  as 
many  people  as  a  long  war. 

22.  The  state  board  of  health,  chemists,  and  other  labora- 
tory workers  are  among  the  busiest  employees  of  the  state. 
Often  their  offices  are  open  evenings  and  Sundays  for  the 
testing   of   diphtheria   cultures   and   for  the  preparation  of 
antitoxins. 


EFFICIENCY  —  HEALTH  285 

23.  The  following  quotation  from  a  city's  annual  report 
shows  how  much  work  there  is  for  state  inspectors  and 
chemists  to  do : 

It  was  found  necessary  during  the  past  year  to  examine 
162  samples  of  articles  held  in  cold  storage  j  of  these  samples 
92  were  found  to  be  decomposed  and  70  were  found  to  be 
normal.  Sixty-two  samples  of  frozen  eggs  were  examined; 
25  lots  of  frozen  eggs,  representing  38  samples  and  amount- 
ing to  5231  pounds,  were  confiscated. 

A  Board  of  Health  in  Each  Family 

24.  The  health  departments  can  do  much  to  protect  the 
people,  but  each  person  must  act  as  a  kind  of  board   of 
health  for  his  own  family.    If  every  house  were  free  from 
rats,  mice,  flies,  mosquitoes,  and  dirt,  there  would  be  less 
need  for  town  and  state  boards.    All  of  these  are  carriers  of 
disease.    Every  time  you  kill  a  rat  or  a  fly  you  are  perhaps 
saving  a  life.    A  large  city  recently  had  a  "  rat-killing  day." 
On  that  day  everybody  was  expected  to  go  over  his  cellar, 
his  attic,  and  all  other  rooms  to  see  where  mice  or  rats  could 
gain  entrance.   Eat  holes  were  to  be  boarded  over  or  securely 
plugged ;  traps  were  to  be  set ;  but,  most  important  of  all, 
every  dark,  dirty  corner  of  cellar,  closets,  and  cupboards  was 
to  be  thoroughly  cleaned.    Dirt  is  altogether  too  expensive  to 
keep  in  the  house.    Mice,  flies,  and  mosquitoes  live  on  it. 
Each  family's  board  of  health  should  never  cease  to  fight  it. 

25.  Sink  drains  and  bathroom  plumbing  must  be  kept 
clean  and  in  order.    Hot  water  and  baking  soda  are  good 
cleansers,  and  carbolic  acid  and  water  will  make  an  effective 
disinfectant.    Food  in  cupboards  and  refrigerators  must  not 
be  allowed  to  decay  or  come  in  contact  with  dirt. 


286 


MY  COUNTRY 


26.  The  yard  must  also  have  attention.  Ash  barrels  and 
garbage  pails  must  be  clean  and  screened  from  flies.  There 
should  be  no  stagnant  water,  even  in  a  drainpipe,  for  it  is 
such  places  that  mosquitoes  choose  for  breeding  spots.  In 
well-managed  cities,  where  garbage  and  ashes  are  collected 
regularly  and  where  there  are  sewers,  it  is  a  simple  matter 


Screenless  Doors  and  Windows  are  a  Menace  to  Health 

to  keep  a  house  and  yard  neat  and  clean.  But  in  the  country 
each  family  must  dispose  of  its  own  sewage,  garbage,  ashes, 
waste  paper,  scraps  of  iron,  etc.  This  is  often  difficult  to  do, 
but  a  little  ingenuity  will  yield  good  results.  Garbage  can  be 
burned ;  papers  can  be  tied  up  in  neat  bundles  and  kept 
for  use  in  kindling  fires;  ashes  can  be  used  on  roads  and 
driveways  and,  in  the  case  of  wood  ashes,  as  fertilizer ;  mis- 
cellaneous scrap  waste  can  be  carried  to  town  once  a  year. 


EFFICIENCY  —  HEALTH  287 

27.  If  your  town  or  city  is  to  be  kept  healthy,  somebody 
in  your  house  must  see  that  all  these  suggestions  are 
observed.  If  no  one  else  seems  willing  to  help,  appoint 
yourself  a  board  of  health  to  your  own  family. 

QUESTIONS  AND  PROBLEMS 

1.  Explain  the  title   of  this   chapter.    Make  another  title 
that  you  think  fits  equally  well. 

2.  What  does  a  merchant  do  when  he  takes  account  of 
stock?     3.  What    does   it   mean   to    take    account   of   stock 
of  health? 

4.  Why  was  it  especially  disturbing  for  the  people  of  the 
United  States  to  discover,  in  1917,  that  three  out  of  ten  of 
the  young  men  between  twenty-one  and  thirty-one  were  not 
fitted  for  military  service  ?  5.  Explain  why  military  service 
requires  almost  perfect  health.  6.  Why  did  not  these  unfit 
young  men  know  before  that  something  was  wrong  with  their 
health?  7.  If  these  young  men  could  not  serve  in  the  army, 
why  was  it  that  many  of  them  could  hold  good  positions  in 
stores,  factories,  and  offices  ? 

8.  The  text  says  that  success  or  failure  may  depend  on 
health.    A  young  man  whose  ambition  it  was  to  become  a 
government  chemist  had  abused  his  health  but  did  not  know 
it.    When  the  testing  time  came,  his  body  failed  him.    With 
over  a  hundred  others  he  was  summoned  to  take  the  govern- 
ment examination.    The  examination  lasted  five  hours.    At  the 
end  of  the  first  hour  his  head  ached  so  that  he  could  not  think, 
his  hands  trembled,  his  whole  body  failed  him.    Do  you  know 
of  any  person  who  has  failed  because  his  body  could  not  stand 
the  strain  ?  If  so,  tell  about  it. 

9.  Why    must   doctors    and   nurses    have    strong    bodies  ? 
10.  If  you  know  a  successful  doctor,  lawyer,  or  business  man, 


288  MY  COUNTRY 

ask  him  how  much  his  health  had  to  do  with  his  success. 
11.  If  you  know  any  sickly  or  frail  person  who  has  won  and 
kept  success,  ask  him  how  he  did  it.  12.  The  text  names 
several  famous  Americans  who  could  not  have  served  their 
country  well  if  they  had  been  sickly  or  weak.  Make  a  list  of 
ten  other  American  men  and  women  who  have  done  important 
work  for  the  country.  Find  out  whether  they  were  strong 
and  rugged. 

13.  Can  you  explain  why  a  college  president  should  say 
that  only  healthy  young  people  should  try  to  go  to  college  ? 

14.  Write  a  paragraph  entitled  w  America  is  not  a  Country 
for  the  Weak." 

15.  So  far  as  we  know,  Lincoln  was  a  healthy  child.    But 
suppose  that  when  he  was  thirteen  a  doctor  had  told  him  that 
unless  he  took  the  best  possible  care  of  his  body  it  would  some 
day  fail  him.    Imagine  that  you  are  Lincoln  and  tell  what  you 
would  do.    16.  Why  did  Eoosevelt  go  West  to  build  up  his 
health  ?    17.  Hundreds  of  boys  would  not  be  able  to  go  onto  a 
ranch  to  gain  strength  and  health.    Suppose  that  you  live  in  a 
city,  and  a  doctor  has  said  that  because  of  ill  health  you  must 
leave  school  at  once.    He  advises  you  to  go  into  the  country. 
You  cannot  do  this,  so  he  tells  you  to  take  up  some  active 
work  and  every  day  to  spend  at  least  eight  hours  in  the  open 
air.    What  would  you  plan  to  do  ? 

18.  Have  you  a  good  physiology  in  your  home  ?  What  is 
the  name  of  it  and  when  was  it  published  ?  Show  it  to  your 
teacher  and  ask  her  if  it  is  the  best  book  that  you  could  get 
for  a  reasonable  price.  19.  If  you  have  not  a  good  textbook 
of  physiology  and  hygiene,  where  can  you  send  to  get  one 
and  how  much  will  it  cost  ?  20.  As  a  composition  write  a 
letter  to  a  publisher,  asking  him  to  send  you  the  name  and 
price  of  the  kind  of  book  you  want.  Make  your  letter  as  per- 
fect as  if  you  expected  to  be  marked  on  it. 


EFFICIENCY  —  HEALTH  289 

21.  Some  day  you  will  want  to  get  your  life  insured.    Before 
you  can  do  this  you  will  have  to  pass  a  rigid  health  examina- 
tion.   Write  to  a  reliable  life-insurance  company  and  ask  it 
for  a  list  of  the  questions  you  would  have  to  answer.    Find 
out  also  what  health  defects  cause  a  person  to  be  rejected. 

22.  How  can  a  weak  body  spread  disease  ?    23.  Show  that 
a  person  with  a  weak  body  may  be  as  great  an  enemy  to  his 
town  as  a  criminal. 

24.  With  the  help  of  your  textbook  on  hygiene  and  the 
rules  given  in  this  chapter,  make  out  a  list  of  helps  that  you 
think  you  need  to  live  by. 

25.  What  occupation  or  profession  do  you  expect  to  enter 
when  you  leave  school  ?  Do  you  know  whether  you  will  have 
the  necessary  health  to  succeed  in  this  ?  A  young  man  who 
had  spent  several  years  in  preparing  to  be  an  interior  decorator 
found  that  the  smell  of  paint  and  varnish,  which  was  always 
present  in  the  workrooms,  made  him  ill.    For  a  year  he  tried 
to  overcome  this  weakness,  but  finally  had  to  give  up  the  work. 
Are  there  smells,  dust,  dim  light,  glaring  light,  loud  noises,, 
connected    with    the    work   which   you   want   to  engage   in  ? 
Would  these  prevent  you  from  succeeding  ?  26.  Write  a  short 
composition  entitled  "  Why  I  think  I  can  succeed  as  a ." 

27.  Why  is  it  often  difficult  for  a  person  to  keep  healthy 
without  the  help  of  town  or  state  ? 

28.  Get  a  copy  of  the  latest  report  of  your  town  or  city  board 
of  health.    29.  What  has  the  board  done  during  the  past  year  ? 
30.  What  has  it  not  done  that  you  think  it  should  have  done  ? 

31.  Where  does  your  drinking  water  come  from  ?  32.  How 
do  you  know  that  it  is  pure  ?  33.  If  you  are  not  certain  that 
it  is  pure,  how  can  you  find  out  ?  34.  When  a  town  begins  to 
grow  rapidly,  why  should  wells  be  abandoned  and  a  central 
water  supply  be  installed  ?  35.  What  is  a  central  water  supply  ? 


290  MY  COUNTRY 

36.  If  smallpox  should  break  out  in  your  town,  what 
would  your  doctor  do?  What  would  your  board  of  health 
do?  37.  What  would  the  state  board  do?  What  would  the 
newspapers  do  ?  What  would  you  do  ? 

38.  Find  out  all  that  you  can  about  your  state  and  county, 
or  town,  or  city  boards  of  health. 

39.  Suppose  that  when  you  are  twenty-one  your  town  should 
send  you  as  representative  to  the  state  capitol  to  help  make 
the  laws.    Is  there  any  health  law  that  you  would  suggest  ? 
40.  Are  you  sure  that  the  state  does  not  already  have  such  a 
law  ?  How  can  you  find  out  ?    41.  Suppose  that  when  you  talk 
with  the  other  representatives  at  the  capitol,  none  of  them 
seem  much  interested  in  the  law  which  you  want  to  propose. 
Make  out  a  list  of  the  things  you  would  say  to  such  persons. 

42.  What  has  your  school  done  for  the  health  of  the  com- 
munity ?  43.  In  what  ways  might  it  help  ?  Perhaps  these 
words  will  suggest  something :  rats,  flies,  mosquitoes,  dust, 
dark  corners,  ash  piles,  garbage  cans,  sunshine. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

HOW  AMERICA  HAS  HELPED  OPPRESSED 
NATIONS 

The  French  People  fight  a  Cruel  Enemy 

1.  All  one  day  in  September,  1917,  soldiers  were  marching 
through  the  narrow  streets  of  a  little  French  village.    Most 
of  them  were  French  soldiers  who  had  been  home  to  see 
their  wives  and  babies  and  were  on  their  way  back  to  fight 
the  Germans.    The  women   of  the  little  village  looked  at 
them  and  sighed.    The  men  seemed  tired.    Many  of  them 
wore  the  stripes  on  their  sleeves  that  showed  they  had  been 
wounded,  but  they  were  quiet  and  smiled  bravely.    By  and 
by  a  train  stopped  at  the  village,  and  again  the  women  in 
the  little  French  houses  heard  the  clump,  clump,  clump  of 
soldiers  marching.    These  men  had  no  packs,  no  rifles,  no 
canteens,  and  wore  a  greenish-gray,  dirty  uniform,  on  the 
front  of  which  were  stamped  big  black  letters  P.  G.  (French 
abbreviation  for  "  prisoner  of  war  ").  These  men,  who  neither 
talked  nor  smiled,  were  German  prisoners.    Little  French 
girls  and  old  French  women  came  to  the  doors  and  windows 
and  silently  watched  them  out  of  sight. 

2.  For  a  while  the  streets  were  quiet,  and  women  were  busy 
stirring  the  porridge  for  their  simple  supper,  when  suddenly 
outside  were  heard  shouts  of  surprise  and  joy.    Again  soldiers 
were  marching  down  the  street,  but  they  were  unlike  any 
soldiers  the  old  women  had  ever  seen.    They  were  tall,  erect, 

291 


292  MY  COUNTRY 

and  came  swiftly  with  light,  almost  noiseless  tread.  They 
wore  broad-brimmed  hats  and  brown  suits  and  carried  rifles 
with  bayonets  fixed.  Old  men  and  women,  children  of  all 
ages,  and  young  mothers  with  babies  in  their  arms  were  no 
longer  smiling  sadly,  as  they  had  been  when  the  French 
soldiers  and  the  German  prisoners  had  passed  their  doors. 
The  women  were  weeping  for  joy,  the  old  men  and  children 
were  shouting  and  waving  their  hats,  and  the  words  that  every- 
where the  children  were  shouting  were,  "  Vive  1'Amerique," 
"Voila  les  Americains," 1  for  these  khaki-clad  soldiers  were 
American  boys  from  Texas,  California,  the  Middle  West,  and 
the  East. 

The  United  States  comes  to  the  Rescue 

3.  What  were  these  American  boys  doing  more  than  three 
thousand  miles  from  home,  among  people  who  spoke  another 
language  ?  Every  child  and  man  and  woman  in  that  village 
knew.  For  three  long  years  huge  cannon  and  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  German  soldiers  had  been  trying  to  take  their 
homes  and  their  villages  from  them.  The  French  men  and 
boys  had  fought  day  and  night  to  drive  the  enemy  away, 
but  the  Germans  were  powerful.  In  one  village  every  man 
except  a  few  old,  old  men  had  been  killed.  Sometimes  a 
great  fear  came  to  the  women  whose  men  had  died  fighting 
for  their  country.  What  if  France  should  not  have  men 
enough  to  keep  on  fighting  until  the  Germans  could  be 
driven  out  of  their  beloved  land  ?  But  one  day  when  the  old 
priest  went  through  the  streets,  he  was  smiling  joyously  and 
called  out  a  piece  of  news  that  made  the  women  say  little 
prayers  of  thankfulness.  This  news  was  that  President  Wilson, 
1  "Long  live  America,"  "  Here  are  the  Americans." 


AMERICA  AND  OPPRESSED  NATIONS        293 

far  away  across  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  had  asked  Congress  to 
declare  war  on  Germany. 

4.  Every  schoolboy  in  every  town  in  France  read  the 
words  that  the  great  president  of  the  United  States  had 
spoken  in  the  Capitol  at  Washington  on  April  2,  1917. 
French  mothers  hugged  their  babies  joyfully.  They  were 


Courtesy  of  the  American  Telephone  and  Telegraph  Co. 

American  Soldiers  marching  through  a  French  Village 

sure  now  that  the  Germans  could  never  drive  them  from 
their  homes  —  the  Americans  were  coming  to  help.  None 
of  them  had  ever  been  in  America  and  most  of  them  could 
not  read  English,  but  they  all  knew  about  the  great  United 
States  with  its  miles  of  wheat  fields,  its  skyscrapers,  and 
its  enterprising  people. 

5.  Weeks  and  months  went  by,  but  no  American  soldiers 
were  seen  in  France.  The  old  priest  said :  "  Be  patient.   They 


294  MY  COUNTRY 

will  come."  But  not  until  this  September  day  had  their 
eyes  really  seen  the  boys  in  American  khaki.  Then  they 
knew  that  it  was  not  a  false  report,  it  was  not  a  dream.  In 
the  great  cities  of  America,  and  even  in  the  tiniest  villages 
in  North  Dakota  and  Maine,  eager  young  men  were  leaving 
their  homes  to  sail  in  huge  ships  across  the  water  to  fight 
side  by  side  with  the  French.  It  was  almost  too  good  to  be 
true,  and  yet  it  was  true ! 

Why  America  wanted  to  help  France 

6.  Why  did  President  "Wilson  call  on  every  village  and 
city  from  the  Atlantic  Ocean  to  the  Pacific  to  send  its  finest, 
bravest  young  men  to  go  to  France  ?  Did  he  not  know  that 
many  of  them  would  never  come  back  ?  Did  he  not  know 
that  many  hundreds,  perhaps  thousands,  of  strong  men  would 
return  blind  or  crippled  for  life  ?  Yes,  he  knew  all  this.  And 
on  the  night  of  April  1,  1917,  when  most  of  the  great  city 
of  Washington  was  sleeping,  the  President,  tired  and  per- 
plexed, was  pacing  his  room  in  the  White  House,  thinking 
out  the  great  war  message  that  all  the  world  would  read 
and  would  never  forget.  His  heart  was  heavy,  for  he  knew 
that  in  a  few  hours  he  must  go  before  Congress  and  urge  it 
to  make  a  declaration  of  war  which  would  bring  sorrow  to 
many  homes.  But  he  knew  that  because  he  was  president 
he  must  do  the  thing  which  the  bravest  and  the  best  people 
in  Boston,  New  York,  Chicago,  St.  Louis,  San  Francisco, 
and  every  other  city  and  village  in  the  country  wanted 
him  to  do.  He  could  not  go  to  each  town  and  each  city 
to  ask  the  men  and  women  what  he  should  do.  There 
was  not  time. 


AMERICA  AND  OPPEESSED  NATIONS        295 

How  the  President  spoke  for  the  People 

7.  As  the  President  paced  back  and  forth  in  the  stately 
room  in  which  so  many  of  our  presidents  had  prepared  mes- 
sages for  the  people,  he  let  his  imagination  carry  him  into  a 
little  village  house  where  lived  a  widowed  mother  and  two 
sons.    One  son  was  in  college,  the  other  worked  in  a  grocery 
store.    The  home  was  small  and  plain,  but  happy.    Should 
he  ask  this  mother  to  let  him  have  the  older  son  to  send 
to  France  ?    If  he  asked  this,  the  other  son  must  give  up  his 
ambition  for  a  college  education  and  support  the  mother. 
What  would  the  mother  say  if  he  could  ask  her?    What 
would  the  sons  say  ? 

8.  Then  his  mind  traveled  to  a  home  of  wealth  where  there 
were  many  servants,  brilliant  lights,  wonderful  paintings,  and 
all  the  comforts  that  money  could  buy.    Here,  too,  were  sons. 
Would  they  give  up  all  the  comforts  and  luxuries  for  the 
hardships  of  the  battlefield  —  eating  scanty  food  from  tin 
plates,  sleeping  in  trenches,  and  risking  their  lives  to  help 
free  France  and  the  world  from  the  enemy  ?    Because  the 
President  was  one  of  the  common  people  and  had  lived 
among  them  as  an  ordinary  citizen,  he  knew  that  the  son 
of  the  poor  widow  in  the  little  town  and  the  son  of  the 
wealthy  man  in  the  city  would  give  the  same  answer  — 
"  Send  us."    What  he  wrote  in  the  silence   of  the  night 
was  only  what  he  knew  was  in  the  hearts  of  brave  people 
everywhere.    He  knew  that  we  were  eager  to  "  make  good 
with  our  lives  and  our  fortunes  the  great   faith  to  which 
we  were  born."    He  spoke  for  the  whole  people.    He  acted 
as  the  president  of  the  United  States  must  always  act  —  for 
the  people. 


296  MY  COUNTRY 

The  United  States  was  also  helping  England  and  Belgium 

9.  Not  only  France  but  Belgium  and  England  and  Russia 
were  in  great  danger  from  this  enemy  that  was  ruthless  and 
strong.    America  was  rich  and  brave  and  powerful.     Our 
young  men  were  the  finest  that  the  world  had  ever  seen. 
Our  laud  was  the  richest  in  food  and  metals,  our  people 
were  the  happiest  and  the  freest.    It  was  our  duty  to  go  to 
the  rescue,  and  we  did.    This  made  us  a  great  world  nation. 
Every  schoolboy  and  girl  in  England,  Belgium,  and  France 
now  salutes  the  Stars  and  Stripes  and  reads  eagerly  of  the 
country  of  forty-eight  states  which  never  had  a  king  or 
queen,  but  which  has  free  schools  and  work  for  everybody 
and  fights  for  the  nation  that  is  oppressed. 

Intertwining  the  Stars  and  Stripes  and  the  Union  Jack 

10.  In  England    the  people  were   almost   as  joyous  as 
were  the  French  men  and  women  to  know  that  America 
was  coming  to  help  fight  the  powerful  enemy.    The  winter  of 
1916-1917  had  been  long  and  cold  and  dreary.    The  sub- 
marines had  sunk  so  many  boats  that  there  was  neither 
coal  enough  nor  food  enough   to  go  around,  and  many  a 
schoolboy  shivered  in  the  London  fog  and  wished  the  war 
would  end.    Then  came  April  20,  and  the  bells  rang  wildly, 
for  it  was  America  Day.    America  had  declared  war  on  Ger- 
many, and  all  over  England,  Ireland,  Scotland,  and  Wales 
there  were  smiles  and  eagerness  as  the  people  celebrated  the 
event.    Everybody  forgot  the  cold  dreariness  of  the  winter. 

11.  At  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning,  almost  before  the 
sun  had  appeared  through  the  fog,  something  happened  that 


AMERICA  AND  OPPEESSED  NATIONS        297 

had  never  happened  before  in  all  the  long  history  of  Eng- 
land. From  the  top  of  the  great  Victoria  tower  in  London, 
which  is  above  the  huge  Parliament  building  corresponding 
to  our  Capitol  at  Washington,  two  flags  were  raised  instead 
of  one.  Always  the  people  had  seen  fluttering  from  that 
tower  the  Union  Jack.  Now  they  saw  floating  by  its  side 
the  Stars  and  Stripes.  Sometimes  the  breeze  intertwined  the 
two  flags,  sometimes  it  flung  them  apart,  but  always  the 
thousands  of  people  saw  the  two  against  the  sky.  The  boys 
and  men  in  the  streets  stood  with  bared  heads,  and  tears 
came  to  the  eyes  of  hundreds. 

Taking  away  the  Power  of  Selfish  Kings 

12.  It  was  one  of  the  greatest  days  in  all  the  world's 
history  when  the  United  States  declared  war  on  Germany. 
Let  us  see  why.    More  than  a  hundred  years  ago  George 
Washington  took  command  of  the  American  army.    In  the 
war  that  followed,  America  freed  herself  from  the  tyrannous 
king,  George  the  Third.    Washington  helped  the  American 
colonies  prove  that  no  king  could  long  abuse  a  brave  freedom- 
loving  people,  even  if  they  were  weak  and  small  in  numbers. 
Encouraged  by  the  example  of  the  American  colonies,  the 
English  people  little  by  little  took  away  the  power  of  their 
kings  and  nobles  and  ruled  themselves. 

13.  England  to-day  has  a  king  that  she  loves,  but  he  has 
no  power  to  harm  the  people.     She  has  a  leader  called  the 
prime  minister,  who  represents  and  acts  for  the  people  in 
almost  the  same  way  that  our  president  does.    She  has  a 
parliament  which  is  similar  to  our  Congress,  to  which  the 
people  send  representatives  to  make  their  laws.    France,  too, 
used  to  have  kings  and  queens  who  kept  the  people  poor 


298  MY  COUNTRY 

and  made  them  work  for  their  own  selfish  whims.  But 
France  had  a  revolution  much  like  our  Revolutionary  War 
and  dethroned  her  king.  To-day  France  is  a  democracy  with 
a  president  and  a  congress.  The  American  colonies,  although 
they  were  weak  and  poor,  were  the  first  great  people  in 
modern  times  to  show  the  whole  world  that  any  brave 
nation  need  not  let  a  king  make  slaves  of  them.  Our  first 
Fourth  of  July  was,  therefore,  a  great  day  for  the  whole 
world. 

America  becomes  Great  and  Powerful 

14.  But  after  the  people  in  the  United  States  became 
independent  of  England  they  thought  little  of  what  was 
happening  in  England  or  France  or  Russia.    They  were  busy 
building   big   cities,  huge  railroads,  factories,  schools,  and 
libraries.    When  the  colonies  threw  off  the  rule  of  England, 
New  York  was  a  city  of  only  twenty  thousand  inhabitants. 
It  had  no  buildings  more  than  three  stories  high,  no  electric 
lights,  no  electric  cars.  There  were  no  railroads,  no  well-heated 
houses  in  winter,  no  great  hotels,  no  automobiles.    Chicago 
was  only  a  little  trading  post.     But  the  American  people 
were  full  of  energy  and  ambition,  and  little  by  little  they 
built  up  wonderful  towns  and  cities.    Talented  men  invented 
electric  lamps,  furnaces,  elevators,  and  thousands  of  the  com- 
forts of  Living,  until  America  became  a  country  of  big  cities, 
big  enterprises,  big  opportunities. 

The  People  know  Little  about  Europe 

15.  All  these  years  since  the  Revolution  the  people  who 
lived  in  Boston  or  Chicago  never  knew  much  about  what 
the  people  in  London  or  Paris  or  Petrograd  were   doing. 


AMERICA  AND  OPPRESSED  NATIONS        299 

Even  if  there  was  a  great  and  terrible  plague  in  some  part 
of  Europe,  we  knew  very  little  about  it.  The  ministers  in 
the  churches  would  take  up  collections  for  India  when  her 
crops  had  failed,  or  for  Armenia  when  she  had  been  oppressed 
by  the  Turks.  Everybody  who  learned  of  such  troubles  of 
European  nations  felt  sorry  for  them,  but  thousands  of 
Americans  never  even  heard  of  these  misfortunes. 

16.  When,  however,  the  Mississippi  overflowed  its  banks, 
or  a  great  tornado  wrecked  a  town  in  Kansas,  or  a  big  fire 
wiped  out  a  whole  city,  all  over  the  United  States  people 
sent  pennies  and  dollars  and  sympathy.    It  was  a  part  of  the 
love  for  their   country  for  those  who  lived  in  Virginia  to 
help  Kansas  when  that  state  was  in  trouble,  or  for  all  the 
states  to  help  San  Francisco  when  half  the  city  was  wrecked 
by  fire  and  earthquake.    The  remotest  town  in  Minnesota  or 
Southern  California  was  as  interested  in  the  welfare  of  the 
whole  United  States  as  was  the  great  city  of  New  York. 

America  helps  Cuba 

17,  But  in  the  year  1896  men  and  women  in  every  part 
of  the  United  States  became  very  much  excited  about  the 
troubles  of  another  people — the  Cubans.    These  people  lived 
on  an  island,  southeast  of  Florida,  which  belonged  to  Spain. 
Spain  needed  money  and  planned  to  get  some  of  it  by  tax- 
ing the  poor  hard-working  Cubans.    She  decreed  that  every 
Cuban  should  secure  a  government  license,  for  which  he 
must  pay  from  fifty  cents  to  fifty  dollars ;  if  he  appeared  on 
the  street  without  the  license  he  could  be  thrown  into  prison. 
In  addition  to  this  tax,  there  were  taxes  on  crops,  taxes  on 
food,  taxes  on  almost  everything. 


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New  York  City  as  it  is  To-Day  and  as  it  was  Two  Hundred 
Years  Ago 


300 


AMERICA  AND  OPPRESSED  NATIONS        301 

18.  The  people  rebelled  and  raised  a  little  army  to  resist 
this  tyranny,  just  as  we  did  in  1776  when  King  George  of 
England  taxed  us  unreasonably.    Then  came  terrible  times. 
The  stories  which  reached  the  United   States  of  starving 
women  and  children  so  angered  our  congressmen  that  several 
of  them  went  to  Cuba  to  see  for  themselves  what  was  taking 
place.    One  of  these  men  was  Senator  Proctor  of  Vermont. 
On  his  return  from  the  island  he  wrote  an  account  of  what 
he  had  seen : 

I  saw  thousands  of  wretched  people  but  no  house  or  hut  for 
four  hundred  miles  of  railroad.  Women  and  children  were 
huddled  in  ruined  walls  or  under  palm-tree  branches.  .  .  . 
Little  children  were  walking  about  with  arms  and  chests  ter- 
ribly emaciated,  eyes  swollen,  and  abdomen  bloated  to  three 
times  its  natural  size.  .  .  .  Deaths  in  the  streets  have  not 
been  uncommon.  .  .  .  People  have  been  found  dead  about  the 
markets  in  the  morning,  where  they  have  crawled  in  the  hope 
of  getting  some  stray  bits  of  food.  .  .  .  These  people  were 
independent  and  self-supporting  before  Spain  oppressed  them. 
.  .  .  Two  hundred  thousand  Cubans  have  died  within  Spanish 
walls  in  a  few  months. 

19.  Senator  Thurston  of  Nebraska  and  his  wife  also  went 
to  Cuba.    The  terrible  sights  so  affected  Mrs.  Thurston  that 
she  died  from  the  nervous  shock  soon  after  her  return  to  the 
United  States.    The  whole  country  demanded  that  we  send 
help  to  the  Cubans.    First,  President  McKinley  protested 
to  Spain,  but  to  no  avail.    Finally,  on  April  19,  1898,  we 
declared  war  on  Spain  to  show  that  we  would  not  allow  the 
people  of  any  island  or  country  near  us  to  be  oppressed. 
Spain  was  defeated  and  gave  up  to  us  Cuba,  Porto  Rico, 
Guam,  and  the  Philippines.    In  fighting  for  Cuba  we  were 


302 


MY  COUNTRY 


doing  what  the  fine,  strong,  well-fed  boy  always  does  for  the 
small,  poorly  fed  boy  who  is  being  abused.  After  the  war  we 
helped  Cuba  recover  from  her  long  struggle  against  Spain. 
For  a  while  we  took  charge  of  the  government  and  stamped 
out  disease,  built  schoolhouses,  sent  doctors  and  teachers 
from  this  country,  and  taught  the  people  how  to  govern 


Photo  by  Brown  Brothers 

The  King  of  England  saluting  the  Stars  and  Stripes  in  London 

themselves.  Then  we  withdrew  our  troops,  and  most  of  our 
helpers,  and  left  the  Cubans  free  to  govern  themselves.  We 
promised  them,  however,  that  we  would  come  to  their  assist- 
ance if  they  again  needed  us. 

Cuba  was  our  Near  Neighbor 

20.  It  is  only  a  short  distance  from  the  southern  part  of 
the  United  States  to  the  island  of  Cuba,  but  it  is  three 
thousand  miles  from  this  country  to  Europe.  We  regarded 
Cuba  as  a  next-door  neighbor,  while  England  and  France 


AMERICA  AND  OPPRESSED  NATIONS        303 

seemed  only  distant  neighbors.  We  supposed  that  we  were 
too  far  away  and  knew  too  little  about  their  affairs  ever  to 
go  to  war  to  help  them. 

Germany  tries  to  crush  Belgium  and  France 

21.  But  one  day  in  1914  a  huge  army  of  several  millions 
suddenly  sprang  up  in  Germany  and  startled  the  whole  world 
by  showing  that  it  intended  to  crush  the  prosperous  and 
happy  little  country  of  Belgium  and  brave,  thrifty  France. 
Even  George  the  Third  had  more  excuse  for  sending  an  army 
to  America  in  1776  than  Germany  had  for  invading  Belgium 
and  France.    King  George  thought  he  owned  the  American 
colonies  and  could  tax  and  govern  them  as  he  pleased.    He 
regarded  them  as  English  colonies  under  the  protection  of 
England.    The  German  emperor  knew  that  he  had  no  claim 
to  either  Belgium  or  France,  yet  he  decided  that  he  would 
make  them  yield  to  his  wishes.    In  Germany  the  emperor 
and  a  little  handful  of  men  rule  the  people.    The  people  are 
not  free  to  choose  their  own  ruler  as  we  are. 

22.  Americans  were  almost  as   startled  as  the  French 
people  at  what  the  German  emperor  was  doing.    Our  news- 
papers printed  "  extras  "  with  bold  black  headlines,  but  the 
terrible  things  that  were  happening  seemed  a  long  way  off. 
We  all  slept  and  ate  and  worked  as  usual.   England,  who  was 
Belgium's  and  France's  nearest  neighbor,  just  as  the  United 
States  was  Cuba's  nearest  neighbor,  came  to  the  rescue  and 
sent  an  army  to  help  keep  back  the  Germans.    But  still  the 
German  army  captured  most  of  Belgium  and  seized  more 
than  three  thousand  villages  and  towns  of  France.    After  a 
little,  tales  of  the  terrible  suffering  of  women  and  children 
in  Belgium  and  France  began  to  be  printed  in  our  papers. 


304  MY  COUNTRY 

Making  the  World  Safe  for  Democracy 

23.  At  last,  when,  day  by  day,  we  saw  that  the  German 
army   was   torturing  women  and  children   and   destroying 
trees  and  gardens  and  churches,  we   understood  that  the 
enemy  really  wanted  to  destroy  all  the  free  nations  that 
ruled   themselves.    This   meant  that  Germany  would  also 
crush  the  United  States  if  she  could.    Soon,  by  sinking  our 
boats,  by  breaking  her  promises,  and  by  filling  our  coun- 
try with  spies,  she  showed  that  she  was  indeed  our  enemy 
as  well  as  the  enemy  of  Belgium,  France,  and  England. 
President  Wilson   told   Congress   that   the   world   was   no 
longer  safe  for  democracy,  even-  in  America.    Then  all  the 
finest,  bravest  Americans  said:   "Let  us  help  France  and 
the  other  countries  which  Germany  is  trying  to  crush.    Let 
us  fight  for  our  own  rights  and  those  of  other  nations." 
After  President  Wilson's  famous  message  to  Congress,  war 
was  declared  on  Germany,  and  immediate  preparation  was 
made  to  send  money,  arms,  and  men  to  Europe.    We  no 
longer  saluted  only  the  Stars  and  Stripes.    We  hung  out 
the  flags  of  all  the  Allies.    We  had  joined  hands  across  the 
Atlantic.    America  had   become  the   champion   of  all  the 
oppressed  peoples.    It  was   one  of  the  greatest  events  in 
the  world's  history. 

24.  Soon  there  was  not  a  true  American,  either  boy  or 
girl,  man  or  woman,  who  was  not  planning  some  way  to 
help  England,   France,  Belgium,  and  the  other  distressed 
countries.    America,  from  the  smallest  boy  and  girl  to  the 
oldest  man  and  woman,  had  come  to  the  rescue.    All  were 
doing  their  bit  to  make  the  world  safe  for  democracy. 


AMERICA  AND  OPPRESSED  NATIONS        305 

QUESTIONS  AND  PROBLEMS 

1.  Where  is  France?  2.  What  happened  to  France  in 
1914  ?  3.  What  did  the  French  women  begin  to  fear  ?  4.  What 
strong,  powerful  country  came  to  help  France  in  1917  ? 
5.  Why  did  the  French  people  shout  "Vive  1'Amerique" 
when  they  saw  American  soldiers  in  their  villages  ? 

6.  What  president  called  for  soldiers  to  go  to  France? 
7.  From  what  states  did  these  soldiers  come  ?  8.  Why  did  the 
president  call  them  ?  9.  Can  the  president  of  the  United  States 
call  an  army  whenever  he  wants  to  ?  10.  Was  it  poor  boys  or 
rich  boys  who  answered  the  president's  call  ? 

11.  What  made  the  United  States  a  world  nation?  12.  Tell 
why  England  celebrated  America  Day  on  April  20,  1917. 

13.  Where  did  the  Stars  and  Stripes  float  on  this  holiday  ? 

14.  Describe  the  British  Union  Jack.    If  your  history  does 
not  have  a  picture  of  it,  consult  a  large  dictionary  or  an 
encyclopedia. 

15.  What  was  the  greatest  day  in  America's  history  ? 
16.  Why  did  the  American  colonies  resist  the  king  of  England 
in  1776?  17.  Did  America  ever  have  a  king?  18.  Can  Eng- 
land's king  to-day  make  the  English  people  do  what  he  wants 
them  to  ?  19.  Does  France  have  a  king  ? 

20.  After  the  Revolutionary  War  the  United  States  was 
busy  doing  what?  21.  Why  have  the  people  in  the  United 
States  been  more  interested  in  what  happened  here  than  in 
what  happened  in  Europe  or  Asia?  22.  In  what  island  did 
the  United  States  become  interested  in  1896  ?  23.  Who  owned 
this  island?  24.  Who  now  owns  this  island  ?  25.  How  were 
the  people  being  oppressed  ?  26.  How  did  President  McKinley 
try  to  prevent  war  between  Spain  and  the  United  States? 
27.  Why  was  it  our  duty  to  help  Cuba?  28.  How  did  we 
help  Cuba  after  the  war? 


306 


MY  COUNTRY 


29.  Why  did  the  United  States  hesitate  to  go  to  the  help 
of  France  when  it  had  been  so  eager  to  fight  for  Cuba? 
30.  Why  did  Germany  invade  France  and  Belgium?  31.  Do 
the  German  people  choose  their  own  emperor  as  we  do  our 
president  ? 

32.  Tell  why  we  finally  declared  war  on  Germany.  33.  Pres- 
ident Wilson  said  that  the  world  must  be  made  safe  for  de- 
mocracy. What  did  he  mean  by  this?  34.  Think  of  a  good 
definition  of  democracy  that  would  make  the  meaning  of  this 
word  clear  to  a  sixth-grade  pupil. 

35.  The  two  small  countries  represented  below  are  Bel- 
gium and  Serbia.  The  two  large  countries  are  Germany  and 


Austria-Hungary.  In  1914  the  two  large  countries  sent  great 
armies  into  the  little  countries  and  almost  completely  crushed 
them.  Both  the  Belgians  and  the  Serbians  fought  the  enemy 


AMEEICA  AND  OPPRESSED  NATIONS         307 

every  step  of  the  way.  They  acted  the  part  of  heroes.  If  the 
Belgians  had  not  resisted,  Germany  might  have  conquered 
France  also,  for  France  lies  next  to  Belgium.  While  the  Bel- 
gians were  fighting  and  yielding  only  inch  by  inch,  the  French 
got  together  their  army  and  kept  the  Germans  from  reaching 
Paris,  the  capital  of  France.  Under  the  heading  "Courage," 
or  some  similar  title,  write  a  hundred  words  comparing  the 
tyranny  of  a  big  nation  like  Germany  with  the  daring  of  a 
little  country  like  Belgium. 

36.  Think  of  two  reasons  (more,  if  you  can)  why  you  would 
rather  live  in  a  democracy  than  in  a  country  which  is  ruled  by 
an  emperor. 

37.  Eead  this  chapter  through  again  and  then  write  a  com- 
position of  three  hundred  words,  telling  why  you  are  proud 
of  the  United  States.    38.  Find  out  how  the  United  States  has 
treated  the  people  of  Alaska,  the  Philippines,  and  its  other 
possessions.    Are  you  proud  or  ashamed  of  what  you  learn  ? 


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War  is  always  Cruel,  even  to  Helpless  Women  and  Children 


308 


CHAPTER  XX 

WAR— WHAT  IS  IT? 

The  "Lost"  Children  of  Belgium 

1.  In  1916  an  American  visited  a  quaint  little  school 
for  orphan  children  in  a  Belgian  town.    It  was  early  in  the 
morning,  and  the  one  hundred  and  twenty  pupils  were  still 
in  the   dining  room.    As   the   Sister  who   acted  as  guide 
opened  the  door  they  began  to  sing  "America."    Four-year- 
olds,  five-year-olds,  as  well  as  the  older  children,  all  sang 
lustily,  and  when  they  came  to  the  "Let  Freedom  ring" 
each  voice  was  a  little  stronger,  each  eye  a  little  brighter. 
The  visitor  thought  perhaps  they  had  sung  in  his  honor,  but 
the  Sister  explained  that  their  breakfast  was  always  finished 
with  this  American  anthem.    "It  is  their  thank  you  for  the 
meal,"  she  said,  "  because  all  the  food  we  have  comes  from 
America." 

2.  It  seemed  strange  to  hear  children  who  could  speak  no 
English,  and  who  had  never  seen  America,  singing  one  of  its 
songs.    But  there  was  something  stranger  yet  about   this 
little  school.    The  pupils  were  all  "  lost "  children.    Perhaps 
they  had  fathers,  mothers,  and  homes  somewhere,  but  no  one 
knew  where.    Many  had  even  lost  their  names.    Men  had 
come  to  the  doors  of  the  school,  saying,  "We  found  these 
babies  in  a  ruined  house,"  and  the  Sisters  had  cared  for  them. 
As  the  little  tots  learned  to  prattle  the  Sisters  shook  their 
heads  sorrowfully,  saying:  "Nameless  waifs.    Perhaps  even 

309 


310  MY  COUNTKY 

their  mothers  can  never  tell  which  are  theirs."  Can  you 
imagine  what  it  would  be  not  to  know  who  you  really 
were  ?  You  would  always  be  looking  into  the  faces  of 
strangers  and  saying :  "  Perhaps  he  is  my  brother.  Perhaps 
she  is  my  mother."  But  how  did  so  many  children  get  so 
badly  lost  that  no  one  knew  who  they  were  ?  Perhaps  you 
have  already  guessed  the  answer.  Before  you  tell  it,  let 
your  imagination  take  you  into  other  far-away  places. 

Poisoning  a  Whole  Village 

3.  One  day  in  1916  the  whir  of  air  planes  was  heard 
over  a  village  of  France.    Women  and  children  rushed  to 
streets  and  doorways  to  gaze  into  the  sky.    They  wondered 
whence  came  the  airships  and  whither   they  were  going. 
After  a  few  hours  the  children  suddenly  became  ill;  then 
many  of  the   men  and   women   were  seized   with  intense 
pain.    Children  struggled  for  breath,  as  if  they  were  fighting 
some  monster  that  held  them  by  the  throat.    For  a  whole 
week  the  people  of  the  village  kept  dying,  until  the  dead 
numbered  four  thousand.    The  airships  which  had  passed 
swiftly  over  their  homes  had   dropped  bombs   filled  with 
deadly  gas,  colorless  and  odorless,  so  that  no  one  knew  his 
danger.    No  person   who  breathed   this   poison   escaped   a 
terrible  death. 

Burning  Homes  in  England 

4.  On  the  same  day,  in  an  English  town  many  miles  away 
to  the  northwest,  when  the  children  were  at  their  lessons, 
a  shrill  whistle  sounded.    Instantly,  as  if  for  a  fire  drill, 
books  were  dropped,  pupils  stood,  and  in  single  file,  double 
column,  they  marched  to  the  great  basement.    As  each  line 


WAR— WHAT  IS  IT?  311 

of  pupils  reached  its  place,  the  teacher  gave  a  signal  and 
every  boy  and  girl  fell  to  the  floor.  For  fifteen  minutes 
they  lay  there  waiting.  A  loud  crash  like  that  of  thunder 
made  even  the  floor  under  them  shake  as  if  in  the  grip  of 
an  earthquake.  The  sound  of  fire  gongs  added  to  the  con- 
fusion. But  no  one  stirred.  When  finally  the  signal  was 
given  to  return  to  their  desks,  and  they  marched  past  the 
hall  windows,  the  pupils  could  see  flames  and  smoke  leap- 
ing to  the  sky.  An  enemy  airship  had  passed  over  the 
town,  dropping  deadly  bombs.  It  was  the  explosion  that 
had  shaken  the  school  and  set  fire  to  the  buildings.  That 
night  fifteen  of  the  pupils  found  only  hot  ashes  where 
their  homes  had  been. 

The  House  of  Hopes  and  Fears 

5.  On  a  desolate  spot  near  a  main  highway  in  Belgium 
in  1916  stood  a  curious  wooden  shack.    The  boards  which 
formed  its  sides  were  covered  with  writing.   In  pencil,  chalk, 
mud,  and  even  in  blood,  pathetic  little  messages  had  been 
written.    Men  and  women  who  passed  along  this  highway 
searching  for  their  wives  and  husbands  stopped  and  wrote 
a  message  in  the  hope  that  those  they  sought  would  come 
that  way  and  read  it.    Day  after  day  old  men,  old  women, 
and  even  children,  toiled  wearily  over  the  road  and  stopped 
for  a  moment  to  see  if  any  name  known  to  them  was  there. 

What  caused  All  This  Wretchedness  ? 

6.  Are  not  these  wretched  pictures  that  we  have  painted  ? 
Do  you  know  what  all  this  means  ?    One  word  tells  the 
whole  story  —  War.    By  1918  over  thirteen  million  people 


312 


MY  COUNTRY 


in  Europe  had  starved  to  death  or  died  from  exposure  since 
the  beginning  of  war  in  the  summer  of  1914.  Over  five 
million  men  had  died  of  wounds  or  on  the  battlefield. 
Thousands  of  mothers  had  lost  their  children.  Families  had 
been  separated  never  again  to  be  united.  Every  important 


The  House  of  Hopes  and  Fears 


Copr.  Paul  Thompson 


nation  in  the  world  was  at  war.  For  hundreds  of  miles  in 
Europe  the  sound  of  cannon  had  not  ceased  in  three  years. 
And  why  ?  The  whole  world  was  at  war.  But  why  ? 

Why  do  we  have  Wars  ? 

7.  It  is  hard  to  explain  why  men  fight.  But  always  there 
has  been  selfishness  and  hate  somewhere.  In  every  town 
are  evil  men  or  ignorant  men  who  would  harm  others  if 
they  dared.  That  •  is  one  reason  why  we  have  policemen, 


WAR  — WHAT  IS  IT?  313 

detectives,  and  courts.  But  it  is  not  always  evil  men  who 
bring  on  war.  Our  own  Civil  War  was  caused  because  men 
could  not  agree.  The  best  men  of  the  South  died  fighting 
the  best  men  of  the  North.  Misunderstanding,  ignorance, 
and  anger  have  all  helped  to  start  wars. 

8.  The  American  nation  was  born  in  war.    The  king  of 
England  tried  to  force  the  American  colonists  to  do  things 
against  their  will.    They  went  to  war.    Many  Englishmen — 
one  of  them  a  famous  orator,  Edmund    Burke  —  warned 
Parliament  that  war  would  come  if  they  continued  to  try 
to  force  the  colonists.    If  the  rulers  of  the  English  nation 
had  been  less   selfish,  less   stubborn,  the  war  would   not 
have  been  necessary. 

9.  Most  of  the  great  wars  in  Europe  have  been  fought 
for  conquest.    That  is,  when  a  nation  has  wanted  more  land, 
it  has  sent  an  army  to  get  it.    Of  course  the  people  who  were 
living  on  the  land  tried  to  keep  it,  and  this  resulted  in  war. 
Usually  the  big  nation  got  the  land  that  it  went  after.    This 
left  bitterness  in  the  hearts  of  the  defeated  peoples. 

The  Divine  Right  of  Kings 

10.  In   the  chapter  on  America  and   Liberty  we   have 
learned  that  America  has  always  championed  liberty.    By 
liberty  America  means  an  equal  chance  for  each  person  to 
worship,  to  work,  and  to  vote  as  he  pleases.    But  not  all  na- 
tions believe  that  every  man  should  have  this  kind  of  free- 
dom.   George  the  Third,  whose  armies  George  Washington 
defeated,  believed,  as  Emperor  William  of  Germany  did  in 
1914,  that  Heaven  had  given  him  and  all  those  related  to 
him  special  rights  over  others.    A  king  was  above  all  laws, 
they  claimed.   A  king  could  seize  the  money  that  men  had 


314  MY  COUNTRY 

earned  and  spend  it  for  his  pleasure.  If  a  ruler  happened 
not  to  like  the  king  in  the  next  country,  he  could  make  his 
people  fight  that  king.  If  he  happened  to  want  a  seaport  that 
belonged  to  a  weaker  country,  he  could  simply  send  an  army 
to  take  it.  In  other  words,  kings  and  emperors  like  William 
the  Second  of  Germany  and  George  the  Third  of  England 
believed  in  the  divine  right  of  rulers  to  do  as  they  pleased. 

The  Struggle  between  the  Kings  and  the  People 

11.  England  no  longer  has  a  king  like  this.    She  believes, 
as  America  does,  in  the  divine  right  of  the  people.    But  in 
1914  Germany  was  still  old-fashioned  enough   to  try  to 
bully    little    nations.     Austria-Hungary,    Bulgaria,    Turkey, 
were  equally  old-fashioned.    The  people  of  these  countries 
were  obliged  to  go  to  war  whenever  their  rulers  said  the 
word.    Sometimes  they  did  not  even  know  what  they  were 
fighting  for.    The  great  war  which  began  in  Europe  in  1914, 
and  in  which  the  United  States  joined  in  1917,  became  in 
the  end  a  war  between  the  nations  which  believed  in  the 
divine  right  of  rulers  and  those  which  believed  in  the  divine 
right  of  the  people. 

12.  The  "  lost"  children  in  the  Belgian  school,  the  four 
thousand  dead  in  the  French  town,  the  buildings  wrecked 
by  bombs  in  England,  the  wooden  shack  with  its  pitiful 
messages  —  all  were  the  result  of  the  barbarities  of  the  war- 
fare waged  by  Germany  and  her  allies.    There  are  supposed 
to  be  rules  even  in  war,  but  every  known  law  was  broken  by 
the  German  armies.    The  armies  which  fight  to  protect  the 
divine  right  of  rulers  fight  like  savages ;  those  which  fight  to 
protect  the  divine  right  of  the  people  fight  like  brave  men. 


WAR  —  WHAT  IS  IT?  315 

Helping  the  Weak  Nation 

13.  Probably  as  long  as  big  bad  boys  injure  small  boys 
and  as  long  as  powerful  countries  attack  weak  countries 
those  who  believe  in  fair  play  must  be  ready  to  help  restrain 
the  boy  and  the  nation  that  is  a  bully.    People  will  never 
cease  to  work  to  make  war  impossible,  but  until  all  the 
nations,  big  and  little,  agree  to  respect  the  rights  of  each 
other,  the  United   States  must  be  ready  to  protect  itself 
and  to  help  the  small  nation. 

Two  Ways  of  preventing  One  Nation  from  injuring 
Another 

14.  There  are  only  two  ways  of  stopping  one  person  or 
nation  from  injuring  another  —  by  persuasion,  which  we 
sometimes  call  diplomacy,  and   by  force.    In  the   case  of 
a  fight  between  two  persons,  a  third  person  can  use  his 
utmost  skill  to  try  to  persuade  the  fighters  to  settle  their 
quarrel  by  words.    If  words  fail,  then  he  must  use  force  to 
help  the  one  who  is  in  the  right.    Of  course  both  fighters 
may  be  in  the  wrong,  or  they  may  be  fighting  because  they 
hate  each  other.    In  that  case  the  third  person  would  do 
everything  he  could  to  stop  the  fighting,  but  would  not 
join  in  it. 

15.  In  1897  President  McKinley  tried  by  persuasion  to 
stop  the  fighting  between   Spain  and  the  Cubans.    When 
diplomacy  failed  he  used  force,  and  that  is  the  reason  Cuba 
is  a  free,  prosperous  island  to-day.    When  in  1912  civil  war 
broke  out  in  Mexico  the  United  States  did  not  send  an 
army  to  help  either  side.    This  was  because  there  seemed 
to  be  no  reason  for  a  third  person  to  interfere. 


316  MY  COUNTRY 

What  a  Person  does  when  he  is  Injured 

16.  Every  person  in  the  United  States,  rich  or  poor,  black 
or  white,  old  or  young,  American  born  or  foreign  born,  can 
appeal  to  our  courts  if  he  is  being  injured  or  unfairly  treated 
in  any  way.    If  a  man  steals  his  neighbor's  cow  the  owner 
cannot  horsewhip  the  thief.    He  must  appeal  to  the  police 
to  arrest  the  thief,  and  both  the  owner  and  the  thief  must 
appear  before  a  court.    The  court  restores  the  cow  to  its 
owner  and   punishes  the   thief.    We  allow  no  one  to  be 
punished  except  by  the  law. 

17.  In  disputes  generally  the  help  of  the  court  can  be 
asked.    When  a  legacy  has  been  left  to  a  family,  if  the  son 
thinks  the  daughter  should  have  less  and  he  more,  and  the 
daughter  wants  it  all,  they  can  appeal  to  the  court  to  decide. 
The  court  listens  to  all  sides  and  then  renders  a  decision.   It 
would  do  the  family  no  good  to  come  to  blows. 

A  World  Court  to  settle  the  Disputes  of  Nations 

18.  Many  people  believe  that  all  nations  should  settle 
their  disputes  in  the  same  way.    There  should  be  a  great 
world  court  to  which  all  nations  could  take  their  disputes. 
In  1896  some  of  the  nations  tried  to  establish  such  a  court 
at  a  place  called  The  Hague,  which  is  the  capital  of  Holland. 
The  idea  was  that  if  France,  England,  Eussia,  Serbia,  —  any 
country  small  or  large,  —  had  a  grievance,  it  could  take  it 
to  this  court  to  be  decided.    If  the  troubles  that  started  the 
great  war  of  1914  had  been  taken  to  this  court,  there  might 
have  been  no  lost  children  in  Belgium,  no  ruined  homes  in 
France,  no  American  boys  in  graves  across  the  Atlantic. 


WAE  — WHAT  IS  IT?  317 

19.  For  more  than  a  hundred  years  we  have  had  unbroken 
peace  with   Canada  and   Great   Britain.    There  have  been 
many  disputes  about  boundaries,  fishing  grounds,  and  other 
similar  matters,  but  every  dispute  has  been  settled  without 
the  aid  of  guns.    The  only  conflicts  have  been  arguments 
on  paper.    During  all  this  century  not  a  fort  has  been  built 
by  either  Canada  or  the  United  States  on  the  more  than 
three  thousand  miles  of  our  northern  boundary.   Not  a  battle- 
ship has   touched  the  waters  of  any  of  the   Great   Lakes 
since  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  pledged  them- 
selves, at  the  close  of  the  War  of  1812,  to  this.    At  the 
World's  Fair  held  in  Chicago  in  1893  the  managers  wanted 
to  let  the  people  see  what  a  battleship  looked  like.    But 
because  we  would   not    break   our  word    even   in   "  jest," 
the  managers  had  to   build  a  brick  "  imitation "  warship. 
If  America  and  Great  Britain,  the  two  most  powerful  nations 
in  the  world,  have  settled  all  their  disputes  peacefully  for  a 
hundred  years,  surely  all  the  other  nations  can  follow  their 
example. 

20.  The  world  is  tired  of  despots  and  wars.    All  the  free 
peoples  like  those  of  the  United  States,  England,  and  France 
will  strive  to  rid  the  world  of  rulers  who  believe  in  the 
divine  right  of  kings.    When  that  day  comes  all  disputes 
will  be  settled  in  great  world  courts.    But  even  a  world 
court  cannot  prevent  one  nation  from  envying  another  its 
wealth  or  its  territory,  just  as  a  city  court  cannot  prevent 
one  man  from  wanting  the  gold  watch  owned  by  another. 
If  in  spite  of  a  world  court  a  nation  turned  thief  and  stole 
what  belonged  to  another,  the  rest  of  the  world  would  have 
to  do  what  cities  do  in  the  case  of  thieves  —  arrest  the  nation 
and  bring  it  before  the  court  for  trial.    How  could  it  arrest 


318  MY  COUNTRY 

a  nation  ?  By  means  of  its  armies  and  its  navies.  So  whether 
wars  shall  end  or  not,  for  a  long  time  to  come  some  armed 
force,  perhaps  an  international  police  force,  will  be  needed 
to  keep  the  world's  peace. 

QUESTIONS  AND  PROBLEMS 

1.  What  is  the  best  definition  of  war  that  you  have  ever 
heard  ?  2.  One  man  has  called  war  "  the  madness  of  nations." 
What  do  you  think  this  means  ?  3.  One  of  the  generals  in  our 
Civil  War  called  war  hell.  What  kind  of  picture  do  you  think 
he  had  in  mind  when  he  said  this  ?  Remember  that  he  had 
seen  many  battlefields. 

4.  Suppose  that  in  1914  you  had  lived  in  Belgium  when  it 
was  invaded  by  the  German  army.    Write  a  letter  to  a  friend 
in  America,  giving  a  little  picture  of  what  you  found  war  to  be. 
Tell  only  what  you  could  have  seen  and  heard  for  yourself. 

5.  In  the  wars  of  the  great  French  general  Napoleon,  three 
million  of  the  finest  men  in  Europe  were  killed  or  died  of 
wounds.    It  is  said  that  after  these  wars  the  average  height 
of  the  French  population  fell  one  inch.   Can  you  explain  this  ? 

6.  The  Vikings  were  famous  warriors.    The  constant  excite- 
ment of  war  unfits  men  for  the  work  of  peace.    Find  out  all 
that  you  can  about  the  Vikings.    Then  see  if  you  can  give  one 
reason  why  there  is  to-day  no  Viking  nation. 

7.  Except   for  minor   conflicts,    these   are   the   wars   that 
America  has  fought  up  to  1917 : 

Revolutionary  War 7  years 

War  of  1812 2£  years 

Mexican  War 2  years 

Florida  War 7  years 

Civil  War 4  years 

Spanish  War  and  Philippine  Rebellion      ...  2  years 


WAR  — WHAT  IS  IT?  319 

Consult  your  history,  and  explain  (1)  why  we  fought  these 
wars  and  (2)  whether  or  not  we  treated  any  other  nation  or 
people  unjustly. 

8.  What  does  the  divine  right  of  kings  mean  ?  9.  Can 
you  name  any  nation  to-day  which  believes  in  this  ?  10.  What 
kind  of  divine  right  does  the  United  States  believe  in  ? 
11.  Make  a  list  of  the  principal  nations  of  the  world,  and  oppo- 
site each  indicate  the  kind  of  ruler  and  government  that  it  has. 
You  will  find  this  information  in  a  good  encyclopedia  or  in 
the  "  Statesman's  Year-Book." 

12.  How  can  wars  be  prevented?  13.  For  many  years  the 
United  States  and  Great  Britain  disputed  over  the  boundary 
of  Alaska  which  adjoined  Canada.  Did  the  two  countries  go 
to  war  over  this  ?  14.  Do  you  know  of  any  other  disputes 
which  we  have  had  with  other  countries  ?  How  were  they 
settled  ? 

15.  If  a  man  uses  a  piece  of  land  that  belongs  to  someone 
else,  can  the  owner  of  it  punish  the  trespasser  ?  16.  What  is 
a  court  ?  17.  What  is  a  world  court  ?  18.  Has  there  ever  been 
a  world  court  ? 

19.  How  could  a  nation  be  arrested  ? 


CHAPTER  XXI 

THE  ARMY  AND  THE  NAVY 
What  is  the  Army  and  the  Navy  ? 

1.  There  are  only  two  ways  that  a  nation  can  use  force — • 
by  means  of  its  army  and  its  navy.    Ah  army  is  simply 
men  and  weapons.    A  navy  is  simply  men  and  weapons. 
The  difference  between  the  army  and  the  navy  is  one  of 
weapons  only.    Into  both  we  put  our  finest  men.    We  give 
them  the  best  weapons  that  skill  and  money  can  devise. 

Protecting  our  Borders 

2.  A  bank  often  has  millions  of  dollars'  worth  of  gold 
and  papers   in  its  possession.    How  does   it  protect  these 
treasures  ?    In  three  ways  —  by  iron  vaults,  by  guards  in 
uniform,  by  detectives  in  plain  clothes.    The  United  States 
is  like  the  bank;    it  must  protect  itself  in  three  ways  — 
by  defenses  (forts  and  battleships),  by  guards  in  uniform  (its 
soldiers  and  sailors),  by  detectives  in  plain  clothes  (secret- 
service  men).    It  is  the  work  of  the  secret-service  men  to 
warn  us  in  advance  if  enemies  are  plotting  against  us.  If  the 
enemy  does  seek  to  attack  us,  we  have  to  protect  ourselves 
with  our  forts,  our  battleships,  our  soldiers,  and  our  sailors. 

3.  As  we  have  already  learned,  our  long  strips  of  seacoast 
with  their  good  harbors  are  one  reason  for  our  prosperity. 
But  in  time  of  war  they  are  our  greatest  danger.    We  have 
no  enemy  to  fear  on  our  northern  boundary.    Between  us 

320 


THE  AKMY  AND  THE  NAVY       321 

and  Canada  there  is  not  a  single  fort  or  guard,  and  we  need 
none.  On  the  south  the  one  danger  spot  is  poor  troubled 
Mexico.  Most  of  the  Mexicans  can  neither  read  nor  write. 
They  are  illiterates  and  superstitious,  much  like  the  Indians 
who  occupied  America  in  the  days  of  Washington.  When 
in  the  power  of  dishonest,  plundering  leaders  they  rush 


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They  haye  never  fought  a  Dishonorable  War 

across  the  border  and  cause  us  much  trouble.  The  eighteen 
hundred  and  thirty-three  miles  of  Mexican  border  must  be 
watched,  but  our  chief  danger  points  are  our  seacoast. 

4.  Counting  all  the  zigzagging  inlets  and  outlets,  the 
United  States  has  five  thousand  miles  of  coast  to  protect. 
Including  our  Island  possessions  and  Alaska,  this  country 
has  twenty-one  thousand  miles  of  seacoast.  To  guard  this 
is  an  enormous  task  and  requires  many  forts,  many  battle- 
ships, hydroplanes,  and  men. 


322  MY  COUNTRY 

Keeping  the  Ocean  Open 

5.  Our  great  navy  is  always  on  duty.    Where  there  is 
danger  to  the  Stars  and  Stripes,  there  go  our  battleships. 
Only  when  the  ocean  is  safe  for  merchant  vessels  can  our 
nation  keep  prosperous.   It  is  necessary,  then,  that  the  peaceful 
merchant  ships  of  every  nation  be  able  to  sail  north,  south, 
east,  or  west  in  perfect  safety.    Because  England  interfered 
with  our  rights  on  the  ocean  in  1812  war  resulted.    One  of 
the  reasons  why  America  went  to  war  with  Germany  in  1917 
was  that  German  submarines  made  the  ocean  unsafe. 

Guarding  our  Neighbors 

6.  Our  navy  must  protect  not  only  our  own  shores  but 
those  of  our  neighbors.    The  United  States  has  promised  the 
little  republics  of  Panama  and  Cuba  that  no  other  country 
shall  take  away  their  freedom.    This  means  that  if  some 
more  powerful  nation  should  attempt  to  oppress  the  people 
of  Panama  in  any  way,  our  battle  cruisers  would  steam  to 
the  coast  of  Panama  and  stay  until  the  trouble  was  over. 

7.  The  United  States  has  also  told  Europe  that  each  one 
of  the  South  American  and  Central  American  countries  is 
to  be  left  free  to  govern  itself.    These  countries  are  not  yet 
strong  enough   to   protect   themselves  against   a  powerful 
enemy,  so  the  United  States  acts  the  part  of  guardian.    At 
the  first  sign  that  any  powerful  nation  intended  to  use  force 
on  one  of  our  southern  neighbors,  our  navy  would  appear  on 
the  scene.   Even  if  our  forty-eight  states  should  not  need  the 
protection  of  our  army  and  navy,  it  would  be  a  long  time 
before  our  Island  possessions  and  some  of  our  neighbors 
could  fully  protect  themselves. 


THE  ARMY  AND  THE  NAVY 


323 


Protecting  Americans  in  Foreign  Countries 

8.  Besides  guarding  American  shores  and  those  of  our 
neighbors,  our  army  and  navy  give  assistance  to  Americans 
in  many  ways.    On  November  30, 1900,  Elihu  Eoot,  Secretary 
of    War,    made   the 

following   report  to 
the  President: 

On  the  14th  Pe- 
king was  reached. 
At  11  A.M.  of  that 
day  two  companies 
of  the  Fourteenth 
Infantry,  under  the 
immediate  command 
of  Colonel  Daggett, 
had  scaled  the  wall 
of  the  Chinese  city, 
and  the  flag  of  that 
regiment  was  the  first 
of  the  foreign  colors 
to  be  unfurled  upon 
the  walls  of  Peking. 
After  steady  fighting 
until  about  the  middle 

of  the  afternoon,  the  Tartar  city  was  entered  and  the  Lega- 
tions were  relieved.  Our  casualties  during  the  day  were  one 
officer  and  eleven  enlisted  men  wounded. 

9.  What  were  American  soldiers  doing  in  far-away  China  ? 
Thousands  of  Americans,  bent  either  on  pleasure  or  on  busi- 
ness, every  year  travel  in  European  and  Asiatic  countries. 
In  1900  many  Americans,  Englishmen,  Germans,  and  others 
were  living  in  China.   In  that  year  an  organization  of  Chinese 


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Looking  for  Submarines 


324  MY  COUNTRY 

called  the  Boxers  began  to  kill  and  rob  the  foreigners.  These 
Boxers  were  ignorant  men  and  believed  that  all  foreigners 
("white  devils"  they  called  them)  came  to  China  to  injure 
them.  The  Chinese  government  tried  to  put  down  the 
Boxers,  but  failed.  Then  the  different  countries  which  had 
citizens  living  in  China  sent  troops  to  protect  them.  Little 
by  little  the  Boxers  were  driven  back  from  the  coast  to 
Peking.  Peking  is  an  ancient,  well-fortified  city  surrounded 
by  a  thirty-foot  wall.  There  thousands  of  French,  American, 
English,  German,  and  other  foreigners  had  taken  refuge.  It 
was  necessary  to  try  to  rescue  them  before  the  Boxers  could 
capture  the  part  of  the  city  where  they  were. 

10.  When  the  relief  forces  reached  the  great  city,  the 
Boxers  held  the  wall.    Before  the  city  could  be  entered  it 
was  necessary  in  some  way  to  clear  this  wall  of  the  enemy. 
There  were  no  scaling  ladders,  no  ropes,  no  tools.    The  men 
had  nothing  but  rifles.    An  American  officer  noticed  that 
there  were  broken  places  in  the  wall  and  suggested  that  by 
means  of  these  a  man  might  climb  to  the  top.   A  volunteer 
was  asked  for.    At  once  a  young  American  soldier  stepped 
forward. 

11.  He  climbed  the  first  fifteen  feet  without  difficulty,  but 
the  rest  of  the  ascent  was  slow  and  painful.   For  almost  an 
hour,  in  breathless  silence,  the  men  watched  the  climber, 
eighteen,  twenty,  twenty-five  feet  above  them,  until  finally 
he  signaled  to  them  from  the  top.    Then  others  followed. 
By  means  of  a  rope  they  drew  up  their  rifles,  one  at  a  time. 
But  there  was  no  flag  among  them,  nothing  to  show  to  either 
foe  or  friend  who  they  were.    Some  of  their  own  forces  might 
mistake  them  for  Boxers  and  open  fire.    So  an  orderly  was 
sent  in  haste,  over  a  route  exposed  to  the  fire  of  the  enemy, 


THE  AEMY  AND  THE  NAVY       325 

to  bring  the  regiment  flag.  When,  an  hour  later,  it  was  un- 
furled against  the  cloudless  August  sky,  a  mighty  shout 
went  up  that  was  heard  for  miles.  And  the  American  men, 
women,  and  children  in  Peking,  who  for  months  had  prayed 
that  they  might  not  meet  death  at  the  hands  of  the  infuri- 
ated Boxers,  hearing  that  shout  knew  that  help  had  at  last 
come.  Every  American  feels  a  thrill  of  pride  to  know  that 
it  was  the  flag  of  his  country  which  first  flew  on  the  walls 
of  the  city  where  his  countrymen  were  imprisoned. 

Helping  the  School-teacher  Travelers 

12.  When  war  broke  out  in  1914  thousands  of  school- 
teachers and  other  Americans  were  spending  their  summer 
vacations  in  Europe.    In  the  panic  which  ensued  many  were 
unable  to  get  home.    Our  government  sent  army  officers  and 
government  boats  to  help  them  in  every  way  possible.    In 
whatever  part  of  the  world  Americans  go,  whether  on  busi- 
ness or  on  pleasure,  their  safety  must  be  protected  if  possible. 
Without  an  army  and  navy  this  could  not  always  be  done. 

The  Army  as  a  Pioneer 

13.  In  rescuing  or  protecting  American  citizens  in  foreign 
countries  both  army  and  navy  have  to  lend  their  help.    But 
within  our  own  country  it  is  the  army  that  is  called  upon. 
We  hear  a  great  deal  about  the  courage  and  self-sacrifice  of 
our  pioneers  —  the  men  and  women  who  left  the  sheltered 
towns  of  the  East  and  pushed  out  into  the  wilderness,  braving 
the  dangers  of  wild  animals  and  savage  Indians.    But  we  do 
not  always  remember  that  where  the  pioneers  went,  there 
went  the  army  also.    It  has  always  been  true,  and  always  will 


< 


326  MY  COUNTRY 

be,  that  where  there  is  grave  danger  in  the  town,  there 
will  be  the  police ;  where  there  is  danger  in  the  state,  there 
will  be  the  militia;  where  there  is  danger  in  the  nation, 
there  will  be  the  army. 

How  the  Army  helped  build  Railroads 

14.  In  1867  the  great  transcontinental  railroad  was  being 
built  through  stretches  of  wilderness.  Week  after  week  sturdy 
workmen  pushed   their  way,  cutting   trees,  blasting  rock, 
laying  rails.    These  men  were  nation  builders  as  truly  as  any 
other  group  of  patriotic  citizens.    Often  hundreds  of  miles 
from  a  village  they  worked  by  day  and  camped  by  night. 
One  hot  noon  in  Colorado  a  group  of  these  workers  strayed 
down  to  the  banks  of  the  Smoky  Hill  River  to  rest  in  the 
shade  of  a  cotton  wood  tree.    Hardly  had  they  reached  the 
tree  when  a  small  party  of  Cheyenne  Indians  jumped  from 
a  hiding  place  and  attacked  them.    At  the  first  sound  of 
rifle  shots  United  States  soldiers  rushed  to  the  rescue,  killing 
several  Indians  and  putting  them  all  to  flight.     But  what 
were  soldiers  doing  hi  the  wilderness  of  Colorado  in  times 
of  peace  ?    They  had  been  sent  to  do  just  what  they  did  on 
this  hot  August  day  —  protect  the  railroad  workers  from  the 
Indians.   Always,  in  the  years  when  the  East  marched  to  the 
West,  the  army  posts  kept  pace  with  the  settlers  to  help 
them  in  every  way  possible. 

What  the  Army  and  Navy  did  for  Alaska 

15.  Fifty  years  ago  we  purchased  Alaska  from  Russia, 
but  not  many  Americans  went  there  until  1896,  when  gold 
was   discovered   in  the  Klondike.     In  that    year   and   for 


THE  AKMY  AND  THE  NAVY       327 

several  succeeding  years  thousands  of  men  and  boys  rushed 
from  the  states  to  search  for  gold.  It  was  a  cold,  cheerless 
country,  without  comforts  of  any  kind.  When  the  govern- 
ment realized  the  hardships  ahead  of  the  people,  it  sent  our 
army  to  aid  and  protect  hoth  natives  and  newcomers.  The 
army  installed  telegraph  and  cable  lines  between  Seattle, 
Washington,  and  some  of  the  principal  Alaskan  settlements. 
It  built  more  than  nine  hundred  miles  of  wagon  road  and 
about  two  thousand  eight  hundred  miles  of  winter  sled  road 
in  an  almost  roadless  country. 

In  Panama  and  in  Cuba 

16.  Probably  the  greatest  peace  task  that  our  army  has 
undertaken  was  the  building  of  the  Panama  Canal.      The 
engineer  corps  of  the  army  is  one  of  the  finest  in  the  world, 
and  it  was  this  body  of  men  who  finally  planned  and  car- 
ried through  the  digging  of  the  world's  biggest  ditch.    It 
was  the  doctors  of  our  army  and  navy  who  cleaned  up  the 
Zone  so  that  men  could  live  there  in  health.     When  the 
French  had  tried  to  build  the  canal,  deadly  fevers  had  killed 
so  many  workers  that  the  undertaking  had  to  be  given  up. 
Under  the  United   States  army  health  conditions  were  as 
good  as  in  most  of  our  towns  and  cities. 

17.  After  our  army  had  defeated  the  Spaniards  in  Cuba, 
it  remained  to  stamp  out  disease,  help  start  schools,  restore 
ruined  homes.    If  our  soldiers  must  destroy  lives  and  prop- 
erty, the  moment  that  peace  comes  they  help  to  heal  and 
build    up.    Armies   used    to   mean    only   destruction.    The 
United   States  has  helped  to  prove  that  they  may  mean 
construction  also. 


328  MY  COUNTBY 

Exploring  the  Arctic  Regions 

18.  Some  of  our  boldest  explorers  have  been  sent  out  by 
the  army.  It  was  a  lieutenant,  A.  W.  Greely,  who  took  an 
exploring  party  into  the  arctic  region  to  make  scientific 
observations  for  our  government.  All  but  seven  of  the  party 
perished.  No  message  had  come  from  them  for  so  long  that 
relief  parties  were  dispatched  to  search  for  them.  It  was  an 
officer  of  the  navy,  Commodore  Schley,  who  was  in  charge 
of  the  successful  relief  expedition.  Not  a  year  goes  by  that 
somewhere,  in  some  corner  of  the  world,  some  part  of  our 
army  and  navy  does  not  go  on  an  errand  of  helpfulness. 


How  our  Navy  helps  Commerce 

19.  Our  navy  is  kept  as  busy  in  peace  times  as  is  the 
army.    It  patrols  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific  in  search  of 
wrecked  vessels  which  menace  shipping.    If  possible,  it  tows 
these  to  some  harbor.    When  this  is  not  practicable,  it  either 
burns  them  or  sinks  them.    When  a  severe  storm  rages,  it 
is  ready  to  go  to  vessels  in  distress.    One  naval  vessel  on 
the  Atlantic  coast  is  fitted  out  as  a  hospital  ship  and  patrols 
the  Newfoundland  fishing  grounds  to  aid  the  fishermen,  who 
often  suffer  greatly  from  cold  and  hunger.    Since  the  sink- 
ing of  the  Titanic,  which  came  into  collision  with  an  ice- 
berg, for  four  months  in  the  year,  day  and  night,  our  navy 
patrols  the  iceberg  danger  zone  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  •  By 
means  of  the  wireless  it  can  notify  vessels  of  the  presence 
of  icebergs. 

20.  Our  navy  even  furnishes  protection  to  a  great  colony 
of  birds  which  make  their  winter  quarters  on  the  Laysan 


THE  ARMY  AND  THE  NAVY       329 

Islands  in  a  lonely  spot  between  Hawaii  and  the  Philip- 
pines. A  number  of  years  ago  President  Koosevelt  made 
these  islands  a  bird  reservation,  for  it  was  found  that  thou- 
sands of  albatrosses  made  their  nests  there.  Their  quills 
are  so  desired  for  millinery  purposes  that  several  times 


Patrolling  the  North  Atlantic  to  warn  Steamships  of  Icebergs 

unscrupulous  men  have  raided  the  islands,  killing  hundreds 
of  birds  and  starving  others  to  make  their  skins  less  oily.  So 
now  our  revenue  cutters,  which  patrol  the  waters  of  the  north 
Pacific,  stop  at  Laysan  to  see  that  all  is  well.  Without 
this  protection  these  birds  might  soon  become  extinct. 

21.  Because  our  army  and  our  navy  are  a  necessary  part 
of  our  great  nation,  we  should  know  who  controls  them, 
what  kind  of  laws  they  have  to  obey,  what  kind  of  men 
serve  in  them.  This  we  shall  learn  in  the  next  chapter. 


330  MY  COUNTRY 

QUESTIONS  AND  PROBLEMS 

1.  How  can  a  nation  protect  itself  or  help  its  neighbors  by 
means  of  force  ?  2.  What  is  an  army  ?  3.  What  is  a  navy  ? 

4.  Why  does  the  United  States  need  an  army  and  a  navy 
for  protection  ? 

5.  Why  do  we  have  no  forts  between  Canada  and  the  United 
States  ?    6.  We  have  no  forts  between  Canada  and  Alaska. 
Why?    7.  What  part  of  our  inland  boundary  do  we  have  to 
guard  at  times  ?    Why  ? 

8.  How  many  miles  of  seacoast  does  the  United  States  and 
its  possessions  have  ?  9.  In  what^  way  is  this  a  danger  ? 
10.  In  addition  to  its  forty-eight  states,  the  United  States 
either  possesses  or  has  the  guardianship  of  eight  different 
sections  of  the  world  —  Alaska,  the  Philippine  Islands,  the 
Hawaiian  Islands,  Porto  Kico,  the  Island  of  Guam,  a  group  of 
the  Samoan  Islands,  the  Virgin  Islands,  and  a  strip  of  Panama. 
Why  is  it  our  duty  to  give  each  of  these  the  same  protection 
that  we  would  give  the  United  States  proper  ? 

11.  Why  does  much  of  our  prosperity  depend  on  keeping 
the  ocean  open  to  merchant  vessels  ?  12.  What  countries  besides 
our  own  do  we  have  to  protect  with  our  navy  ?  13.  Whenever 
we  prevent  a  European  or  Asiatic  nation  from  interfering  with 
any  of  the  countries  in  South  or  Central  America,  we  say  that 
we  are  "  enforcing  the  Monroe  Doctrine.'7  What  is  the  Monroe 
Doctrine  ?  Consult  your  history,  an  encyclopedia,  and  the  dic- 
tionary. 14.  If  you  were  asked  to  debate  on  Resolved,  "  That 
the  Monroe  Doctrine  should  be  abolished,"  which  side  would 
you  take  —  the  negative  or  the  affirmative  ?  Why  ? 

15.  Can  an  American  travel  through  Europe  and  Asia? 
16.  Can  he  be  sure  of  being  safe?  17.  What  happened  in 
China  in  1900  ?  18.  Who  were  the  Boxers  ?  19.  Why  did 
America  send  troops  to  China? 


THE  ARMY  AND  THE  NAVY       331 

20.  How  did  the  United  States  help  its  citizens  who  were 
traveling  in  Europe  in  1914  when  war  broke  out?  21.  How 
did  our  army  help  the  pioneers  to  settle  the  country  beyond 
the  Mississippi?  22.  What  is  a  transcontinental  railroad? 

23.  Why  was  the  building  of  such  a  railroad  a  difficult  task  ? 

24.  How  did  our  army  help  in  this  building  ? 

25.  When  gold  was  discovered  in  the  Klondike,  Alaska,  what 
did  our  army  and  navy  do  ? 

26.  What  is  an  engineer  corps?     27.  Why  does  our  army 
have  such  a  corps  ?    28.  What  big  piece  of  work  did  this  corps 
finish  in  1914  ?  ' 

29.  After  peace  was  declared  in  Cuba,  what  did  our  army  do  ? 
30.  Someone  wrote  a  newspaper  article  entitled  "  Creosote  fol- 
lows the  American  Flag."  Can  you  think  what  such  an  article 
would  probably  tell  ? 

31.  What  is  an  explorer  ?  32.  Name  one  of  our  army  officers 
who  conducted  an  arctic  exploring  party.  33.  When  this  party 
was  lost,  who  went  to  search  for  it  ? 

34.  How  does  our  navy  protect  shipping  and  assist  fisher- 
men ?  35.  How  does  it  protect  one  of  our  bird  reservations  ? 


CHAPTER  XXII 

THE  ARMY  AND  THE  NAVY  (CONTINUED) 
Two  Model  " Villages" 

1.  There  are    at   least   two   model    communities  in   the 
United  States.    The  people  who  live  in  these  "  villages  "  are 
cleaner,  healthier,  busier,  than  any  other  groups  anywhere 
in  the   United   States.    One  interesting  thing  about  these 
places  is  that  no  liars  are  allowed.    Another  is  that  every- 
thing and  everybody  is  immaculate.    Dirt  is  forbidden.    It 
is  difficult  to  get  permission  to  live  in  either  of  these  vil- 
lages, and  it  is  still  more  difficult  to  stay  there.   An  untidy 
person,  a  person  who  is  frequently  late,  a  shirker,  or  a  liar 
is  soon  discovered  and  forced  to  leave. 

2.  In  the  spring  of  1917  a  young  man  who  lived  in  one 
of  these  communities  left  his  work  for  ten  minutes  without 
permission.    That  evening  he  was  asked  by  an  official  of  the 
village  if  he  had  been  away  from  his  work.    He  said  "  No." 
Then  there  was  trouble.    The  officials  arrested  the  young 
man  and  held  a  trial.    He  confessed  the  truth,  said  he  had 
never  lied  before,  and  begged  to  be  allowed  to  remain  in  the 
village.    His  father,  a  person  of  great  influence,  pleaded  for 
him.    Never  before  had  the  young  man  disobeyed  a  rule  of 
the  village.    Even  the  president  of  the  United  States  was 
appealed  to.    But  both  the  officials  of  the  village  and  the 
government  of  the  United  States  said,  "  It  does  not  pay  to 
educate  a  liar." 

332 


333 


334  MY  COUNTKY 

Why  No  Liars  are  allowed  in  these  Villages 

3.  If  all  persons  who  do  not  tell  the  truth  should  be  ex- 
pelled from  the  towns  in  which  they  live,  it  would  take 
many  trains  to  carry  them  away.    A  liar  is  always  danger- 
ous, but  there  is  a  special  reason  why  these  two  communities 
must    expel   every  untruthful   person.    These   villages   are 
the  United  States  Military  Academy  at  West  Point  and  the 
United  States  Naval  Academy  at  Annapolis.    It  is  in  these 
that  the  United  States  trains  officers  for  the  army  and  the 
navy.    The  armies  that  fight  under  the  Stars  and  Stripes 
must  be  the  finest  in  the  world.    They  must  therefore  have 
the  finest  officers  —  for  the  officers  must  teach  and  train 
the  soldiers  and  sailors.    In  times  of  danger  every  officer 
must  know  that  every  other  officer  and  soldier  is  telling  the 
exact  truth.    A  battle  might  be  lost  through  a  "  white  "  lie. 
No  weaklings,  no  liars,  no  bullies,  should  be  graduated  from 
West  Point  and  Annapolis. 

4.  The  aviation  departments  of  the  army  and  the  navy 
are  the  most  difficult  branches  to  enter.   A  man  who  fights  in 
the  air  must  be  keen,  quick,  brave,  and  accurate.    In  time  of 
war  the  aviator  is  the  scout.    He  flies  over  the  enemies'  lines 
and   brings   back    a   report   of  what  he   sees.     When  the 
United  States  army  rejected  many  strong  young  men  who 
wished   to  become  flyers,  the   examining  officer  gave  this 
reason  for  some  of  the  rejections : 

Absolute  truthfulness  is  one  very  necessary  qualification  for 
a  flyer.  The  service  needs  men  who  can  take  accurate  observa- 
tions and  report  them  accurately.  A  tendency  to  exaggeration 
on  the  part  of  an  aerial  observer  may  cost  thousands  of  lives. 
We  reject  all  inaccurate  young  men. 


THE  AEMY  AND  THE  NAVY       335 

Rigid  Rules  for  the  Student  Officers 

5.  It  will  help  you  understand  and  value  your  army  and 
navy  to  know  a  few  of  the  rules  and  qualifications  of  the 
young  men  training  to  be  officers : 

144.  Disrespect  to  superiors.    Cadets  [young  men  studying 
to  be  army  officers]  who  shall  behave  themselves  in  a  refrac- 
tory or  disrespectful  manner  toward  a  professor  or  instructor,. 
or  other  superior  officer,  shall   be  dismissed  the  service  or 
otherwise  less  severely  punished. 

145.  Intoxicating  liquors.  Cadets  who  shall  drink  or  be  found 
under  the  influence  of  intoxicating  liquor,  or  bring  or  cause 
the  same  to  be  brought  within  the  cadet  limits,  or  have  the  same 
in  their  rooms,  tents,  or  otherwise  in  their  possession,  shall  be 
dismissed  the  service  or  otherwise  less  severely  punished. 

149.  False  statement.  Cadets  who  shall  knowingly  make  or 
cause  or  procure  to  be  made,  false  reports  or  false  official  state- 
ments, or  who  shall  knowingly  make  false  statements  of  any 
kind,  shall  be  dismissed  the  service. 

154.  Defaming  another  cadet.  Cadets  who  shall,  by  anjr 
means  whatever,  traduce  or  defame  another,  shall  be  dismissed 
the  service,  or  otherwise  less  severely  punished. 

168.  Ungentlemanly  conduct.  Cadets  are  not  only  required 
to  abstain  from  all  vicious,  immoral,  and  irregular  conduct,  but 
it  is  enjoined  upon  them  to  conduct  themselves  upon  every 
occasion  with  the  propriety  and  decorum  which  characterize 
the  society  of  gentlemen.  Any  cadet  who  shall  be  guilty  of 
conduct  unbecoming  an  officer  and  a  gentleman  shall  be  dis- 
missed the  service. 

6.  As  these  rules  show,  some  offenses  are  punished  in 
two    ways  —  by    dismissal    or    "otherwise   less    severely"; 
but  lying  and  ungentlemanly  conduct  have  only  one  penalty 
—  dismissal.    It  should  make  every  American  feel  a  little 


336  MY  COUNTKY 

prouder  than  before  to  know  that  the  officers  who  train 
our  armies  and  lead  them  in  war  are,  first  of  all,  honest 
and  gentlemanly.  The  West  Point  and  Annapolis  motto  is 
11  Honor,  Duty,  Country." 

Army  Discipline 

7.  This  rigid  system  of  rules  and  punishments  is  some- 
times called  army  discipline.    Whether  the  soldier  is  a  pri- 
vate or  an  officer  he  must  give  instant  obedience  to  his 
superior.    He  can  never  leave  his  work  to  someone  else.    He 
and  he  alone  must  carry  out  the  orders  given  him.    In  ordi- 
nary everyday  life  we  do  not  like  to  refer  to  one  person  as 
superior  and  to  another  as  inferior.    All  men  and  women 
are  regarded  as  equals  before  the  law.    In  the  army  a  supe- 
rior is  simply  a  person  who  is  higher  in  command.   A  soldier 
who  takes  orders  is  the  inferior  of  the  person  who  gives 
them.    In  time  of  war  when  a  big  national  army  is  raised,  a 
banker  may  serve  as  a  private  under  an  officer  who  was  his 
stenographer.    The  stenographer  will  then  be  the  military 
superior  of  the  banker.    But  this  causes  no  trouble.    The 
code  of  honor  and  the  form  of  discipline  make  the  banker  as 
efficient  a  private  under  his  stenographer  as  his  stenographer 
Was  an  assistant  under  him  in  time  of  peace. 

A  Nation  fights  by  Means  of  Representatives 

8.  We  govern  ourselves  by  means  of  representatives.    We 
^Iso  fight  by  means  of  representatives.    The  representatives 
who  make  our  laws  we  call  senators,  congressmen,  council- 
men,  etc.    Those  who  fight  for  us  are  soldiers  and  sailors. 
Therefore  when  our  army  or  navy  goes  to  a  foreign  country,  it 


THE  ARMY  AND  THE  NAVY       337 

represents  not  only  the  president  and  Congress  but  the  whole 
people.  The  enemy,  and  the  people  who  live  in  the  country 
through  which  the  army  passes,  will  judge  the  American 


Copr.  iu Wishers'  JL'hoto  service 

A  West  Point  Student  saluting  his  Superior 

people  by  their  soldiers.  It  is  no  wonder  then  that  the 
"  villages  "  which  train  our  officers,  who  in  turn  are  to  train 
the  soldiers,  demand  that  every  man  be  upright  and  honorable. 
9.  We  have  already  met  many  enemies  through  our 
soldiers.  Have  they  always  represented  the  courage  and 


338  MY  COUNTRY 

patriotism  of  the  millions  of  people  at  home  ?  The  history 
of  our  army  and  navy  is  an  interesting  one.  Here  are  a 
few  paragraphs  from  its  pages  that  will  give  you  some  idea 
how  we  have  been  represented  by  our  soldiers. 


Our  Soldiers  in  China 

10.  During  the  Boxer  Kebellion,  after  Peking  had  sur- 
rendered,  the  troops  of  America  and  the  other  countries 
entered  the  city  in  a  triumphal  procession.    An  Englishman 
who  saw  the  procession  described  the  different  groups  of 
soldiers  —  the  immaculate,  smiling  Japanese;    the  brilliant 
Eussians;  the  Germans,  whose  lines  were  as  straight  as  if 
they  were  "  pressing  against  invisible  rules,  and  whose  step 
was  as  the  heavy  footfall  of  a  single  man."   But  only  when 
speaking  of  the  Americans  did  he  use  words  that  would 
make  a  nation  genuinely  proud  of  its  soldiers: 

A  splendid-looking  lot  of  men  they  were.  Their  dark  khaki 
uniforms  bore  signs  of  wear  and  tear,  their  parade  drill  was, 
maybe,  not  as  smart  as  the  others' ;  but  their  grit,  their  deter- 
mination, their  courage,  were  unsurpassed. 

11.  The  same  Englishman  also  said:  "Of  all  the  coun- 
tries which  sent  troops  to  China  to  quell  the  Boxer  uprising, 
the    one    that    acted    most    honorably,    most    unselfishly, 
was  the  United   States."    This  was  true.    In  all  our  deal- 
ings with   China   at  that  time,  we   tried   to   treat   her  as 
we  should  wish  to  be  treated.     The  Russian  and  German 
soldiers  robbed  and  abused  the  helpless  Chinese  as  no  sol- 
diers  should.    That  the    Chinese   soon   learned   who  their 
real  friends  were,  the  following  incident  will  show. 


THE  AKMY  AND  THE  NAVY 

What  the  Chinese  People  thought  of  our  Soldiers 

12.  After  the  American,  British,  and  other  troops  had 
taken  possession  of  Peking  the  city  was  in  a  state  of  hope- 
less confusion.  To  restore  order  the  city  was  divided  into 


Copr.  International  Film 

Annapolis  Men,  whose  Motto  is  ff  Honor,  Duty,  Country  " 

sections  and  assigned  to  the  different  armies  to  control. 
The  section  given  to  the  American  troops  was  two  and  one- 
fourth  miles  long  by  one  and  one-half  miles  wide.  Captain 
John  C.  F.  Tilson  was  put  in  charge.  Under  Captain  Tilson 
no  honest  Chinaman  was  molested,  no  Chinaman's  prop- 
erty was  seized.  If  an  American  soldier  disobeyed  orders 
and  stole  from  the  Chinese,  he  was  forced  to  give  up  what 


340  MY  COUNTRY 

he  had  taken  and  was  punished.  When  the  time  came 
for  the  Americans  to  leave  the  city  a  strange  thing  hap- 
pened. Thousands  of  Chinese  gathered  in  front  of  Captain 
Tilson's  quarters  and  presented  to  him  a  petition  that  every 
American  will  feel  pride  in  reading.  Here  is  part  of  it: 

We,  the  people  of  and  proprietors  of  two  thousand  business 
houses  .  .  .  have  the  honor  to  beg  you  to  intercede  in  our 
behalf  to  secure  a  postponement  of  the  withdrawal  of  the 
United  States  troops  ...  as  we  have  been  perfectly  protected 
by  you  from  the  beginning  till  now.  ... 

You  have  opened  charity  eating-houses  and  saved  the  poor 
from  starvation ;  you  have  employed  policemen  to  prevent 
crime ;  gambling-houses  and  opium-dens  have  been  closed, 
and  thieves  driven  from  the  district. 

We  have  been  made  very  happy,  and  we  are  grateful  to  you 
because  you  have  protected  us  so  kindly.  We  learned  recently 
that  your  government  will  withdraw  her  troops  before  the 
other  nations  withdraw  theirs. 

We  were  sorry  to  learn  this,  because  we  fear  that  criminals 
will  prey  upon  us  at  your  departure.  With  the  best  pro- 
tection you  could  give  us  there  was  some  crime.  Should  the 
United  States  troops  leave  here  it  is  certain  that  criminals 
will  again  pillage  the  people. 

Though  we  may  come  under  the  protection  of  some  other 
Power,  we  fear  that  that  other  Power  will  not  be  so  efficient 
as  the  United  States  has  been.  .  .  . 

From  the  beginning  we  have  been  perfectly  protected  by 
you ;  but  after  you  leave,  we  may  be  robbed  and  harmed  by 
bad  men  and  badly  treated  by  the  new  officers.  .  .  . 

After  mature  consideration  we  have  concluded  to  beg  you 
to  ask  your  government  for  us  to  kindly  permit  you  to  remain 
here  till  the  negotiation  is  concluded.  .  .  . 

If  our  petition  be  granted  we  shall  be  more  grateful  than 
words  can  express. 


THE  ARMY  AND  THE  NAVY       341 

What  an  American  Officer  said  of  our  Army 

13.  More  than  two  thousand  names  were  signed  to  this 
remarkable  letter.    The  Chinese  paid  no  such  compliment 
to  the  soldiers  of  Germany  or  Eussia  or  any  other  country 
represented  there.    Captain  Tilson  also  received  many  sep- 
arate letters  of  thanks  from  prominent  Chinese.    We  can 
understand  how  proud  he  was  to  be  able  to  write  a  reply 
like  the  following  to  one  of  these  letters : 

Sir: 

I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  receipt  of  Your  Excellency's 
very  kind  letter  of  commendation  of  the  8th  inst.  and  to  return 
my  sincere  thanks. 

The  Army  of  the  United  States  of  America  enjoys  the  proud 
distinction  of  being  the  only  army  in  the  history  of  all  the 
world  that  has  never  been  used  as  an  instrument  of  tyranny. 

If  ...  I  have  done  nought  to  impair  the  reputation  of  the 
army  of  my  country,  and  have,  at  the  same  time,  merited 
Your  Excellency's  esteemed  commendation,  while  endeavoring 
to  extend  to  your  people  that  protection  to  life  and  property 
and  that  equality  before  the  law  so  dear  to  my  countrymen, 

I  am  indeed  proud.  .  .  . 

John  C.  F.  Tilson 

Disgracing  the  Flag 

14.  Probably  there  have  always  been  some  soldiers  in 
our  armies  unworthy  to  salute  the  Stars  and  Stripes.    These 
men,  usually  under  the  influence  of  liquor,  have  robbed  and 
frightened  women  and  children.  Our  towns  have  never  been 
wholly  free  from  thieves  and  other  criminals.    So  it  is  not 
to  be  wondered   at  that  some  of  these  men  get  into  our 
army  and  navy.    But  all  such  soldiers  are  severely  punished. 
Even  our  bitterest  enemy  must  be  kindly  treated  after  he 


342  MY  COUNTRY 

has  surrendered.    Here  are  some  of  the  rules  which  the 
men  of  our  army  and  navy  must  observe : 

Rule  16.    Military  necessity  does  not  admit  of  cruelty  — 
that  is,  the  infliction  of  suffering  for  the  sake  of  suffering  or 
for  revenge,  nor  of  maiming  or  wounding  except  in  fighting, 
nor  of  torture  to  extort  confession.  .  .  . 

Rule  44.  All  wanton  violence  committed  against  persons  in 
the  invaded  country,  all  destruction  of  property  not  com- 
manded by  the  authorized  officer,  all  robbers,  all  pillage  or 
sack,  even  after  taking  a  place  by  main  force ;  all  ...  wound- 
ing, maiming,  or  killing  of  such  inhabitants,  are  prohibited 
under  the  penalty  of  death,  or  such  other  severe  punishment 
as  may  seem  adequate  for  the  gravity  of  the  offense.  .  .  . 

Rule  45.  A  prisoner  of  war  is  subject  to  no  punishment  for 
being  a  public  enemy,  nor  is  any  revenge  wreaked  upon  him 
by  the  intentional  infliction  of  any  suffering  or  disgrace  by 
cruel  imprisonment,  want  of  food,  by  mutilation,  death,  or  any 
other  barbarity. 

Rule  75.  Prisoners  of  war  are  subject  to  confinement  or 
imprisonment  such  as  may  be  deemed  necessary  on  account 
of  safety,  but  they  are  to  be  subjected  to  no  other  intentional 
suffering  or  indignity. 

Rule  80.  Honorable  men,  when  captured,  will  abstain  from 
giving  to  the  enemy  information  concerning  their  own  army,  and 
the  modern  law  of  war  permits  no  longer  any  use  of  any  violence 
against  prisoners  in  order  to  extort  the  desired  information  or 
to  punish  them  for  having  given  false  information. 

The  People  declare  War 

15.  We  have  already  learned  that  Congress  is  made  up 
of  several  hundred  men  who  represent  the  people  in  every 
part  of  the  country.  It  is  only  when  both  Senate  and  House 
of  Representatives  have  voted  for  war  that  the  president 


THE  ARMY  AND  THE  NAVY       343 

can  direct  the  armies.  Thus  in  America  it  is  really  the 
people  who  declare  war  and  raise  armies.  It  is  because  our 
wars  are  the  people's  wars  that  our  soldiers  fight  with  so 
much  courage  and  energy.  Americans  do  not  like  war,  but 
when  they  leave  factories,  banks,  stores,  and  offices  to  fight 
they  fight  grimly  and  thoroughly. 

Raising  an  Army  in  War  Time 

16.  Since  the  army  and  navy  have  important  work  to 
do  in  times  of  peace  as  well  as  of  war,  the  United  States 
always  keeps   at  least  a  small   army.    This  regular  army, 
as  it  is  called,  is  never  large  enough  to  protect  the  country 
when  threatened   by  an   outside   enemy.    During   years  of 
peace,  the  army  and  navy  get  the  men  they  need  by  adver- 
tising for  them,  in  much  the  same  way  that  a  store  or  a 
factory   advertises   for  workers.     But   when   war   has   been 
declared,  the  president  can  issue  a  special  call  for  men  which 
every  newspaper  in  the  country  publishes.     Patriotic  men 
leave  their  work  and  offer  themselves  to  the  nation.    Such 
soldiers  are  called  volunteers.    In  the  later  years  of  the  Civil 
War,  although  the  nation  was  in  great  peril,  not  enough 
men  had  volunteered.    Many  men  were  selfish  and  thought- 
less. So  Congress  passed  a  law  compelling  certain  men  drawn 
by  lot  to  fight  or  furnish  a  substitute.    This  was  called  the 
Draft  Law. 

The  Draft  of  1917 

17.  In  1917,  hardly  had  Congress  declared  war  when  the 
people  saw  that  the  country  was  in  such  great  danger  that 
it  could  not  wait  for  a  volunteer  army.    Except  for  a  few 
faultfinders  the  people  agreed  that  the  fairest  and  quickest 


344  MY  COUNTRY 

way  to  raise  an  army  was  to  take  all  men  of  certain  ages. 
So  another  draft  law  was  passed.  This  law  required  the 
ten  million  men  between  the  ages  of  twenty-one  and  thirty- 
one  to  register  at  a  specified  time  and  be  ready  to  go  into 
a  training  camp  at  a  moment's  notice.  No  man  who  was 
called  could  refuse  to  serve.  No  patriotic  man  wanted 
to  refuse. 

Running  a  War 

18.  The  president  acts  as  commander  in  chief  of  the  army 
and  navy  and  is  largely  responsible  for  the  success  of  the 
war.    Our  country  has  no  busier  man  than  the  president, 
even  in  times  of  peace.    His  working  day  is  never  the  eight- 
hour  one.     But  in  war  time,  as  the  servant  of  the  whole 
people,  he  must  not  let  a  single  moment  go  unused.    His 
chief  assistants  are  the  Secretary  of  War  and  the  Secretary 
of  the  Navy.    Each  of  these  men  is  the  director  of  a  large 
department  made  up  of  many  bureaus  which  provide  clothes, 
food,  ammunition,  and   other   supplies  for  the  troops  and 
attend  to  transporting  them  to  and  from  training  camps. 

19.  Other   assistants    of  the   president,  even   more    im- 
portant than  either  the  Secretary  of  War  or  the  Secretary 
of  the  Navy,  are  the  generals  in  command  of  the  land  troops 
and  the  admirals  in  command  of  the  naval  forces.    Success 
or  defeat  may   depend  on   one  or  all  of  these  men.    The 
United  States  has  been  fortunate  in  its  generals  and  ad- 
mirals.    Someone  has  said  that  if  only  one  sentence  could 
be  used  to  describe  our  successful  army  and  navy  com- 
manders it  would  be,  "A  man  who  always  did  more  than 
was  expected  of  him,  both  before  he  became  commander  and 
after."    Whenever  Grant  said  he  would  have  his  army  at  a 


THE  AKMY  AND  THE  NAVY       345 

certain  place  at  a  certain  time,  the  army  was  always  there 
a  little  before  the  time.  It  means  a  great  deal  to  be  better 
than  one's  word.  No  wonder  such  men  become  famous. 

20.  In  time  of  war  the  president  must  see  all,  know  all. 
He  must  never,  for  a  moment,  forget  that  the  war  is  being 
fought  for  the  people  and  by  the  people.    He  must,  there- 
fore, not  only  act  for  them  but  share  his  secrets  with  them 
so  far  as  possible.    But  when  the  danger  is  great,  there  are 
many  things  which  cannot  be  told  to  the  people,  for  this 
would  be  telling  them  to  the  enemy  also.    At  such  times 
the  people  must  trust  the  president.    They  must  remember 
that  he  is  not  only  the  president  and  the  commander  in  chief 
of  the  army  and  navy  but  a  citizen  like  themselves.    He  will 
do  for  them  what  they  would  do  for  themselves  if  they  were 
in  his  place. 

A  Part  of  the  Army  that  fights  without  Guns 

21.  An  important  part  of  our  army  and  navy  fights  only 
with  food,  medicine,  and  hospitals.    Many  of   the  soldiers 
in  this  branch  of  the  army  are  women.    Their  badge  is  the 
red  cross.    The  American  National  Eed  Cross  works  both 
in  peace  and  in  war,  just  as  do  the  army  and  the  navy. 
In  December,  1917,  a  terrible  explosion  wrecked  Halifax, 
Nova  Scotia,  killing    and  wounding   thousands  of  persons. 
Within  a   few  hours   after  the   first  news   of  the  disaster 
reached  the  United  States,  a  special  train  carrying  doctors, 
nurses,  food,  clothing,  and  medical  supplies  was  on  the  way 
to  the  stricken  city.    This  was  the  work  of  the  Eed  Cross. 
When,   many    years    earlier,   Galveston    was    overwhelmed 
by  a  tidal  wave,  the  Red  Cross  spent  over  three  million 
dollars  to  relieve  the  suffering. 


346 


MY  COUNTRY 


22.  The  society  is  now  recognized  by  the  government  as  a 
part  of  its  relief  force  in  time  of  trouble.  No  one  will  ever 
know  how  great  a  help  to  the  nation  this  peaceful  part  of 
our  army  was  in  the  war  which  we  entered  in  1917.  The 

mills  could  not  turn 


clothing 


out  warm 
fast  enough  to  meet 
the  needs  of  the  new 
army.  Almost  in  a 
night  we  had  half 
a  million  soldiers  to 
be  fed  and  clothed. 
The  Eed  Cross  called 
upon  its  members 
—  women  in  every 
town  in  the  United 
States  —  to  revive 
the  neglected  art 
of  knitting.  Little 
girls  learned  to  knit 
in  schools ;  mothers, 
grandmothers,  and 
daughters  began  to 
knit  at  home.  On 
street  cars,  in  thea- 
ters, in  churches,  the  click  of  needles  told  the  story  of 
helpfulness.  Even  in  the  prisons,  men  who  had  brought 
only  shame  to  their  flag  begged  to  be  allowed  to  knit  for 
the  Red  Cross. 

23.    But  the  helpful  work  of  the  Red  Cross  consisted  of 
something  besides  knitting.    The  society  went  into  Belgium 


Copr.  Publishers'  Photo  Service 

Looking  for  the  Wounded  after  the  Battle 


THE  ARMY  AND  THE  NAVY       347 

and  France  to  rebuild  ruined  homes.  The  death  rate  of 
little  children  in  France  was  alarming.  In  one  town  of  fifty 
thousand  people  there  was  only  one  doctor.  So  the  Red 
Cross  gathered  hundreds  of  doctors,  specialists  on  children's 
diseases,  nurses,  and  other  workers  in  the  United  States 
and  sent  them  to  France.  They  went  into  French  homes 
with  milk,  food,  and  clothing.  So  well  did  they  do  their 
work  that  the  great  French  commander  General  Petain 
said,  "Your  American  Red  Cross  has  done  more  for  France 
than  a  million  soldiers  could  have  done."  The  Red  Cross 
fought  disease,  hunger,  and  misery  of  every  kind  with  medi- 
cines, food,  cheer,  and  comfort. 

24.  In  war  time  the  most  important  work  of  the  Red 
Cross  is  that  of  saving  some  of  the  awful  wastage  of  the 
battlefield.    Close  up  to  the  lines  where  soldiers  are  fighting 
and  dying  are  dugouts,  or  sheltered  huts.    Here  wait  groups 
of  men  with  stern-set  faces.    Stretchers,  bandages,  first-aid 
remedies,  are  piled  up  about  them.  When  night  comes  or 
there  is  a  lull  in  the  fighting,  they  go  out  to  gather  up  the 
poor  tortured  bodies  that  still  have  life  in  them.     Quick- 
ness, skill,  and  bravery  are  the  requirements  for  the  Red 
Cross  men  who  go  to  the  front.    Farther  back  from  the 
battlefield  are   big  hospitals  with  white  beds   and  white- 
capped  nurses  whose  badge  is  also  the  red  cross. 

How  the  Rest  of  the  People  Help 

25.  We   have   said   again    and   again   that   this   is   the 
people's  country.    All  the  people  share  in  the  good  things. 
Should  they  not  all  share  in  the  added  work  and  hardship 
that  war  brings?    In  1917  the  people  saw  to  it  that  most 


348  MY  COUNTEY 

of  the  one  hundred  million  Americans  had  some  part  in 
the  war.  Those  who  did  not  serve  in  the  army  or  navy  or 
in  the  Eed  Cross  helped  in  one  or  more  of  these  ways : 

1.  Saved  money  to  buy  Liberty  Bonds  and  War  Savings 
Stamps. 

2.  Sold  Liberty  Bonds. 

3.  Did  free  clerical  work  for  the  draft  boards. 

4.  Made  knitted  articles  for  soldiers  and  sailors. 

5.  Prepared  bandages  and  splints. 

6.  Used  all  the  land  available  for  gardening. 

7.  Canned  vegetables  and  fruits. 

8.  Saved  fuel. 

9.  Saved  sugar,  wheat,  and  meat. 

10.  Joined  the  Red  Cross  Association  and  contributed  money 
to  it. 

11.  Gave  up  a  paid  position  to  do  specially  important  work 
for  the  government  without  salary. 

QUESTIONS  AND  PROBLEMS 

1.  Before  a  young  man  is  admitted  to  the  Military  Academy 
at  West  Point  he  must  take  this  oath : 

I, ,  do  solemnly  swear  that  I  will  support  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  United  States  and  bear  true  allegiance  to  the  National 
Government ;  that  I  will  maintain  and  defend  the  sovereignty  of  the 
United  States  paramount  to  any  and  all  allegiance,  sovereignty,  or 
fealty  I  may  owe  to  any  State,  county,  or  country  whatsoever,  and 
that  I  will  at  all  times  obey  the  legal  orders  of  my  superior  officers 
and  rules  and  articles  governing  the  Armies  of  the  United  States. 

Study  this  carefully.  Look  up  the  meaning  of  every  word  that 
you  do  not  understand.  Be  ready  to  answer  these  questions : 
(1)  What  is  an  oath  ?  (2)  What  is  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States?  (3)  What  does  "maintain"  mean?  (4)  Give 
another  expression  for  "sovereignty  of  the  United  States." 


THE  ARMY  AND  THE  NAVY       349 

(5)  What  is  "  sovereignty  "  ?  "  allegiance  "  ?  "  fealty  "  ?  (6)  What 
are  legal  orders  ?    Rewrite  this  oath  in  your  own  words. 

2.  Learn  all  you  can  about  the  Military  Academy  at  West 
Point  —  where  it  is  located,  how  many  students  are  there,  what 
they  study,  etc.  3.  Tell  about  the  Naval  Academy  at  Annapolis. 

4.  Why  are  liars  expelled  from  these  schools  ?  5.  How  is  a 
liar  a  dangerous  person  ?  6.  Do  you  think  that  a  liar  is  at  heart 
really  a  coward  ?  Think  this  over  carefully  before  you  try  to 
answer.  7.  Do  you  think  it  would  be  a  good  thing  for  a  business 
house  to  discharge  all  employees  who  tell  untruths  ?  (Think  of 
some  way  in  which  a  lie  might  greatly  injure  a  business.) 

8.  What  is  exaggeration?  9.  Can  an  exaggeration  cause 
as  much  trouble  as  a  lie  ?  Explain  your  answer. 

10.  What  is  a  "bully"  ?   Why  does  the  United  States  want 
no  bullies  among  its  officers  ? 

11.  Give  in  your  own  words  five  of  the  rules  which  the 
students  at  West  Point  and  Annapolis  have  to  obey. 

12.  What  is  "un  gentlemanly  conduct"?     13.  Is  ungentle- 
manly  conduct  ever  justifiable  ?    14.  Make  a  list  of  at  least  ten 
different  things  which  you  think  would  be  called  ungentlemanly 
conduct.    15.  Imagine  for  one  day  that  you  are  a  West  Point 
cadet  at  home  on  leave.    How  would  you  act  in  your  home,  on 
the  street,  in  school  ? 

16.  What  is  the  West  Point  and  Annapolis  motto?    Let 
half  the  class  write  a  one-page  composition  called  "Duty,"  be- 
ginning it  with  a  definition  and  then  showing  by  illustrations 
how  a  person  does  his  duty.    Let  the  other  half  of  the  class 
write  a  similar  composition  on  "Honor." 

17.  What  is  discipline?    Explain  what  discipline  means  in 
the  home,  in  school,  and  in  the  army. 

18.  Suppose  that  when  you  leave  school  you  get  a  position 
as  clerk  in  a  shoe  store.    Will  you  be  the  inferior  or  superior 


350  MY  COUNTRY 

of  the  clerks  who  have  been  there  several  years  ?  19.  You 
should  always  show  respect  for  greater  knowledge  or  ability 
than  your  own.  How  would  you  show  respect  for  the  head 
clerk  in  such  a  store  ?  20.  In  your  home  who  are  your  supe- 
riors ?  Explain  your  answer  and  tell  how  you  show  respect 
for  them.  21.  How  do  you  show  your  respect  for  your  teacher 
and  your  principal  ? 

22.  In  the  army  and  the  navy  an  inferior  always  salutes  a 
superior.  What  is  a  salute  ?  23.  Why  is  it  that  the  superior 
always  returns  the  salute  ?  This  is  not  an  easy  question  to 
answer.  Think  it  over  carefully.  24.  A  superintendent  of  schools 
one  day  said,  "  Whenever  I  see  a  strong-limbed,  clear-eyed,  eager 
boy,  I  feel  like  saluting  him."  Can  you  tell  what  he  meant  ? 

25.  What  is  meant  by  "  fighting  by  means  of  representa- 
tives" ?  26.  Tell  how  our  army  once  represented  us  in  China. 

27.  Rewrite  in  your  own  words  the  letter  which  two  thou- 
sand Chinamen  wrote  to  one  of  our  officers.  28.  The  United 
States  is  referred  to  in  this*  letter  as  a  "Power."  What  does 
this  mean  ?  29.  What  did  Captain  Tilson  mean  when  he  said 
"The  Army  of  the  United  States  of  America  has  never  been 
used  as  an  instrument  of  tyranny"  ? 

30.  Have  any  of  our  soldiers  ever  disgraced  the  Stars  and 
Stripes?  Explain  your  answer.  31.  Why  is  an  intoxicated 
soldier  or  sailor  in  uniform  a  sad  sight  ? 

32.  How  must  soldiers  of  the  United  States  treat  all  pris- 
oners ?  33.  In  1917,  when  we  were  at  war  with  Germany  and 
Austria,  our  government  interned  thousands  of  German  and 
Austrian  enemies.  These  men  were  given  all  the  necessities 
and  many  comforts.  Why  did  we  do  this  ? 

34.  Explain  as  fully  as  possible  how  the  people  declare  war. 
35.  What  does  the  president  do  in  time  of  war  ?  36.  Who  are 
his  chief  helpers  ?  37.  What  does  the  Red  Cross  do  ?  38.  How 
does  "  everybody  "  help  ? 


CHAPTER  XXIII 
OUR  FLAG 

1.  In  all  our  cities  of  lofty  buildings,  like  New  York  and 
Chicago,  what  is  it  that  rises  highest  into  the  sky  ?   What 
is  higher  than  steeples  or  chimneys  ?    If  you  should  stand  in 
the  heart  of  New  York  City's  busiest  section  and  gaze  up 
the  perpendicular  masses  of  stone  that  rise,  story  by  story, 
so  far  above  you  that  they  seem  almost  a  part  of  the  sky 
itself,  even  above  their  top  you  would  see  something  floating 
in  the  very  heavens  —  the  Stars  and  Stripes.    The  highest 
skyscraper  that  was  ever  built,  the  highest  tree  that  ever 
grew  upon  the  mountain  tops,  is  not  too  high  a  pedestal  for 
our  flag. 

Our  Flag  in  Cuba 

2.  When   the  United  States  went  to  the  rescue  of  the 
oppressed  Cubans  in  1898,  our  fleet  was  sent  to  prevent  the 
Spanish  warships  from  escaping  and  to  land  an  armed  force 
to  defeat  the  Spanish  army.    A  small  number  of  American 
marines  went  ashore  early  in  the  morning.    Almost  at  once 
four  men  in  blue  were  climbing  up  the  mountain  which 
overlooks  Santiago.    At  the  highest  peak  was  a  blockhouse, 
and  the  watchers  from  the  boats  and  the  shore  saw  the 
climbers  reach  the  house  and  scramble  to  its  roof.    A  mo- 
ment later  something  fluttered  in  the  wind,  and  although 
those  below  could  not  see  its  colors,  they  all  knew  that  it 
was  the  Stars  and  Stripes.    Every  man  in  sight  of  that  piece 

351 


352  MY  COUNTRY 

of  bunting  shouted  himself  hoarse,  every  steam  whistle  in 
the  great  fleet  shrieked  for  joy ;  and  as  one  by  one  the 
camp  fires  gleamed  out  in  the  darkness  of  the  night  each 
man  was  eager  for  the  morning  and  real  battle.  The  mere 
sight  of  a  piece  of  cloth  had  roused  his  courage  to  its 
highest  pitch. 

Our  Flag  Song 

3.  In  the  winter  of  1915-1916,  after  a  German  submarine 
had  sunk  the  Lusitania  and  drowned  hundreds  of  women 
and  children,  the  United  States  was  on  the  verge  of  war. 
During  these  exciting  days  a  famous  American  prima  donna 
sang  in  Italian  opera  in  New  York  City.    Each  time  she 
appeared  on  the  stage  she  was  given  tremendous  applause. 
Between  two  of  the  acts  she  came  before  the  curtain,  gave 
a  signal  to  the  orchestra,  and  began  to  sing  not  a  selection 
from  the  opera  but  a  simple  little  song.    She  had  finished 
the  first  line  before  the  audience  realized  what  the  song  was. 
Then,  in  a  perfect  frenzy  of  excitement  they  rose  and  cheered 
until  the  singer's  voice  was  lost  in  the  tumult.    Finally  they 
quieted,  and  again  the  singer  began.    At  the  last  word  once 
more  the  audience  went  mad  with  joy. 

4.  There  are  many  songs  that  the  world's  critics  consider 
great  musical  compositions,  but  the  song  which  the  opera 
star  sang  was  not  one  of  them.    Then  why  did  men  and 
women  weep  and  cheer  themselves  hoarse  for  it  ?    Because 
it  was  the  flag  song  of  our  nation—   "The   Star-Spangled 
Banner."    By  their  cheers  they  expressed  their  devotion  and 
loyalty  to  it  and  showed  that  they  would  not  permit  an 
oppressive  nation  like  Germany  to  dishonor  it  or  treat  it 
scornfully. 


OUR  FLAG 
When  the  Song  was  Written 


353 


5.  "The  Star-Spangled  Banner"  is  a  relic  of  one  of  our 
wars.  Francis  Scott  Key  was  a  young  lawyer  at  the  time 
that  we  were  at  war  with  Great  Britain  in  1814.  He  had 
gone  aboard  the  British  fleet,  which  lay  before  Fort  McHenry 


What  Song  is  he  Playing  ? 

at  Baltimore,  to  ask  for  the  release  of  an  American  who 
had  been  imprisoned  through  a  misunderstanding.  He  was 
received  courteously  and  his  request  was  granted,  but  he 
was  told  that  he  and  his  companions  could  not  return  for 
several  days.  Not  until  the  heavy  guns  of  the  fleet  began 
to  boom  did  Key  understand  what  was  taking  place.  The 
fort  was  being  bombarded,  and  perhaps  he  should  see  with 
his  own  eyes  its  surrender  to  the  enemy.  He  watched  until 


354  MY  COUNTRY 

darkness  came.  He  could  not  sleep,  but  paced  the  deck 
trying  to  see  through  the  blackness  whether  the  flag  was 
still  there.  Before  the  sun  was  up  he  was  again  straining 
his  eyes  toward  the  horizon,  and  when  little  by  little  the 
light  showed  the  dark  outlines  of  the  fort  and  something 
waving  in  the  breeze,  he  knew  that  the  brave  defenders  of 
the  fort  had  not  surrendered. 


Saluting  the  Flag 

6.  When  Caruso,  the  great  Italian  tenor  singer,  returned 
to  the  United   States  in  the  fall  of  1917,  as  he  left  the 
wharf  he  stooped,  touched  his  fingers  to  the  earth,  kissed 
his  fingers,  and  saluted  our  flag.    On  the  same  day,  in  Wash- 
ington, as  President  Wilson  was  being  whirled  from  the 
Capitol  to  the  White  House  his  automobile  was  stopped  by 
a  parade.    Several  thousand  Northern  boys  on  their  way  to 
a  Southern  state  were  marching  down  the  broad  avenue. 
None  of  them  saw  the  President,  and  as  the  President  looked 
into  their  faces  he  saw  no  one  that  he  knew.    But  when 
the    color   bearers  with  the   Stars  and  Stripes  passed,  the 
President  bared  his  head  and  his  eyes  kindled.     He,  like 
every  man  and  boy  in  that  crowded  street,  was  saluting  our 
national  flag. 

7.  On  that  same  day  over  five  million  school  children 
in  the  forty-eight  states  stood  by  their  desks,  facing  the 
flag    at  the   teacher's    desk,  and  with   right   hand  at  the 
forehead,  said : 

"  I  pledge  allegiance  to  my  flag  and  to  the  Kepublic  for 
which  it  stands,  one  nation  indivisible,  with  liberty  and  justice 
for  all." 


OUR  FLAG  355 

8.  Nearly  four  thousand    miles  away,  a  little  group  of 
wounded  French  soldiers  were  also  saluting  our  flag.    It  was 
at  a  railroad  station  on  the  edge  of  France,  near  the  Swiss 
border.    For  several  hours  a  silent  crowd  of  American  and 
French  soldiers  had  waited  for  the  train  that  was  to  bring 
the  French  prisoners  whom  Germany  was  sending  home. 
These  men,  wounded,  homesick,  and  full  of  fear  for  their 
families,  had  been  kept  in  a  German  prison  camp  for  three 
years.    Now,  because  they  were  too  ill  ever  to  fight  again, 
they  were  being  sent  back  to  France.    The  train  drew  in. 
The  men,  limping,  trembling,  but  eager,  came  through  the 
station  and  passed  between  the  lines  of  welcoming  soldiers. 
Each  face,  however  pale  and  full  of  suffering,  brightened  to 
see  France  once  more.    As  each  man  saluted  his  flag,  the 
flag  of  France  that  had  been  lost  to  him  for  years,  his  eyes 
could  not  see  for  the  tears  that  dimmed  them.    But  when, 
after  passing  their  own  colors,  the  men  saw  before  them  the 
Stars  and  Stripes,  the  look  on  their  faces  changed  from  one 
of  gladness  to  one  of  amazed  delight.    Eagerly  they  saluted, 
as  if  hope  had  once  more  been  born  in  them.    Every  man 
who  saluted  our  flag  knew  that  it  was  a  flag  that  had  never 
known  defeat  or  dishonor.    It  was  to  fly  side  by  side  with 
that  of  France  until  the  enemy  was  conquered. 

Why  we  salute  the  Flag 

9.  Why  is  it  that  the  mere  sight  of  a  piece  of  red,  white, 
and  blue  cloth  will  make  timid  men  brave  and  discouraged 
men  eager?    Why  was  it  that  on  a  single  day  the  presi- 
dent of  the  United   States,  an  Italian  singer,  over  five  mil- 
lion school  children,  and  thousands  of  other  men  and  women 


356  MY  COUNTRY 

all  saluted  the  flag  as  if  it  had  been  some  great  and 
famous  person?  No  person  has  yet  lived  in  the  United 
States  or  traveled  through  it  who  has  been  treated  with 
the  same  great  respect  that  is  to-day  shown  the  flag.  We 
have  had  many  great  men,  —  Washington,  Jefferson,  Frank- 
lin, Adams,  Lee,  Grant,  Lincoln,  —  men  whom  to-day  we 
almost  reverence;  but  not  one  of  them,  while  he  lived, 
was  honored  as  the  flag  is. 

10.  This   seems  almost  strange.     The  reason  cannot  be 
that  the  flag  is  made  of  costly  materials.     The  President 
would  have  bared  his  head  at  the  passing  of  the  Stars  and 
Stripes  whether  made  of  cotton  or  of  silk.    The  five  million 
school  children  would  have  stood  at  salute  before  any  Amer- 
ican flag,  whatever  its  cost.    Why,  then,  do  all  men,  rich  and 
poor,  famous  and  obscure,  honor  a  piece  of  cloth  ?    We  all 
know,  but  it  is  not  easy  to  frame  an  answer. 

The  Flag  stands  for  Men  and  Women,  Boys  and  Girls 

11.  It  is  what  the  flag  stands  for,  or  represents, —  not 
what  it  is, —  that  makes  it  something  to  be  loved  and  re- 
spected.   It  stands  for  Washington  and  the  patient,  brave 
struggle  that  he  made  for  his  country.     It  stands  for  the 
soldiers  at  Valley  Forge  whose  bare  feet  left  marks  of  blood 
on  the  snow ;  it  stands  for  Benjamin  Franklin,  who,  though 
he  was  old  and  ill,  spent  years  in  France  to  get  money  to 
pay  the  soldiers  and  buy  ammunition  for  them ;   it  stands 
for  Robert  Fulton,  who  worked  tirelessly  and  patiently  until 
he  had  made  a  discovery  which  has  added  to  the  comfort 
and  pleasure  of  every  person  who  is  now  living.    It  stands 
for  fathers  who  toil  uncomplainingly"  to  earn  food,  clothes, 


OUR  FLAG  357 

and  the  chance  for  an  education  for  their  children ;  and  for 
mothers  who  cook  and  sew  and  sacrifice  that  their  children 
may  be  true  Americans. 

12.  It  stands  for  the  Corn  Club  boy  who  in  1910  raised 
on  his  acre  of  land  more  bushels  of  corn  than  any  farmer  in 
the  South.    It  stands  for  the  newsboy  who  snatched  a  three- 
year-old  child  from  the  path  of  a  speeding  automobile  and 
lost  his  leg ;  for  the  girl  who  swam  fifty  feet  from  the  bank 
of  the  Connecticut  River  and  saved  two  boys  from  drowning. 

In  other  words,  the  flag  represents  all  the  brave,  true 
men  and  women,  boys  and  girls,  who  now  live  in  the  United 
States  or  have  ever  lived  in  this  country. 

The  Flag  stands  for  Every  State  and  Town 

13.  It  means  a  great  deal  to  see  in  the  flag  the  faces 
of   all   the   brave    men    and  women  who  have   lived  and 
died  for  it.    But  it  represents  more  than  this.    Pupils  are 
told  that  they  must  love  their  country.    And  when  they 
learn  that  the  United  States  has  never  oppressed  another 
nation,  that  it  has  never  fought  a  dishonorable  war,  that 
it  gives  the  poor  boy  the  same  chance  to  gain  success  and 
fame  that  the  rich  boy  has,  and  that  it  tries  to  care  for 
all  its  children,  they  begin  to  love  it.    If  all  the  children 
of  all  the  countries  in  the  world   could  march  before  us 
in  one  long  procession,  the  cleanest  clothes,  the  happiest 
faces,  the  strongest  bodies,  and  the  quickest  steps  would 
belong  to  the  American  children.    It  is  no  wonder,  then, 
that  they  love  their  country. 

14.  But  the  United  States  is  a  vast  country.    When  a 
boy  feels  pride  in  his  country,  does  he  think  of  Maine  or  of 


358 


MY  COUNTKY 


Oregon  ?  of  New  York  City  or  of  San  Francisco  ?  Even  our 
largest  city  —  New  York  —  and  our  largest  state  —  Texas  — 
are  only  a  small  part  of  the  nation.  If  a  person  wished  to 


Copr.  International  Film 

To  the  Rescue  of  Liberty  —  our  Soldiers  and  our  Flag  in  London 

see  all  of  the  United  States,  he  would  have  to  travel  con- 
stantly, day  and  night,  for  a  whole  year,  and  then  would 
not  have  visited  half  the  villages  and  towns.  Because  there 
are  so  many  different  states,  cities,  villages,  and  homes  that 


OUR  FLAG  359 

go  to  make  up  the  whole  United  States,  it  is  a  convenience 
to  have  some  one  thing  that  stands  for  them  all. 

15.  The  Capitol  at  Washington  and  our  president  stand 
for  the  whole  country.   But  we  cannot  all  go  to  Washington, 
and   we   certainly   cannot   take    either   the    Capitol  or  the 
president  with  us.    We  can  see  only  a  small  part  of  the 
nation  at  one  time.    We  can  touch  a  few  rocks  and  trees 
and   see  a  few  people,  but  that   is  all.   So  the   flag  does 
what  nothing  else  can  —  it   stands  for  every  part  of  our 
country.    It  has  forty-eight  stars,  one  for  each  state,  and 
thirteen  stripes  for  the  thirteen  hrave  colonies  that  fought 
for  independence  and  became  the  first  states  of  the  new 
nation.    The  flag  stands  for  the  past  and  for  the  present. 
It   suggests  the  pine  trees  of  Maine,  the  cotton  fields   of 
Louisiana,  the  great  iron  furnaces  of  Pennsylvania,  the  mines 
of  Colorado,  the  rocky  heights  of  Oregon,  and  the  orange 
groves  of  California. 

The  Flag  stands  for  Liberty  and  Honor 

16.  As  we  have  just  seen,  the  Stars  and  Stripes  stand  for 
our  great  men  like  Washington  and  Lincoln  and  for  every 
town,  village,  city,  and  state.    These  are  people  and  places 
that  we  can  read  about  and  see.    But  there  is  something 
else  whicli  is  just  as  real  but  which  we  cannot  see  or  touch. 
One  name  for  it  is  "  liberty,"  another  is  "equal  opportunity," 
another  is  "  honor." 

17.  When  President  Wilson  asked  the  country  to  buy 
Liberty  Bonds  a  mass  meeting  of  Jewish  Americans  was 
held  in  New  York  City.    Every  speaker  pointed  to  the  Ameri- 
can flag  and  said :  "  There  is  the  hope  of  the  Jews.    The 


360  MY  COUNTRY 

Stars  and  Stripes  have  given  to  us  greater  liberty,  greater 
opportunity,  than  any  other  nation  on  earth ! "  This  was 
true.  Not  only  the  Jews  but  the  Poles,  the  Lithuanians, 
the  Armenians,  and  many  other  oppressed  peoples  could  say 
the  same  thing.  A  Russian  who  had  brought  his  family  to 
America  said,  "  Whenever  I  get  lonely  and  discouraged  I  go 
down  to  the  great  public  library,  walk  through  its  beautiful 
corridors,  which  are  as  free  to  me  as  to  the  richest  man  in 
the  city,  then  look  at  the  flag  floating  over  its  door,  and  I 
feel  better."  The  flag  did  not  suggest  men  or  places  to  this 
Russian,  but  "  liberty  "  —  something  that  we  cannot  touch 
or  see,  but  can  enjoy. 

18.  During   the    Great   War    German    submarines    sank 
American  vessels  by  means  of  deadly  torpedoes.    One  ship 
thus    attacked    was    the    Chemung,   commanded    by   John 
L.  Duffy.    As  the  vessel  began  to  sink  the  German  cap- 
tain ordered  Duffy  to  haul   down  his   colors,  but  Duffy's 
command  to  his  men  was,  "  Our  colors  go  down  with  the 
ship,  not  before."    Rapidly  the  vessel  filled  with  water,  but 
still  the  flag  flew  at  the  masthead.    When  finally  the  waves 
closed  over  the  ship,  the  Stars  and  Stripes  were  the  last 
thing  to   disappear.    It   was   a  simple  incident,  but  not   a 
German   who   witnessed    it    could    fail   to   know    that   the 
American   flag   might   sometimes   go   down,  but  never   in 
dishonor. 

Showing  Respect  for  the  Flag 

19.  Since   our   flag   means    so   much   and  stands   for   so 
much  it  is  no  wonder  that  we  love  it.    All  true  Americans 
treat  it  with  the  utmost  respect.    One  day  in  a  large  factory 
in  Massachusetts  a  workman  took  a  small  flag  from  the 


OUR  FLAG 


361 


wall,  crushed  it,  and  threw  it  onto  a  pile  of  rubbish. 
Instantly  he  was  seized  by  other  workmen,  who  said  that 
unless  he  immediately  picked  up  the  flag,  cleaned  it,  placed 
it  again  on  the  wall,  and  saluted  it  he  could  never  enter  that 
factory  again.  At  a 
big  open-air  patriotic 
meeting  in  Chicago 
one  man  failed  to  re- 
move his  hat  when 
"  The  Star-Spangled 
Banner"  was  played. 
A  sailor  who  stood 
near  requested  him 
to  do  so.  The  man 
refused,  and  at  once 
the  sailor  summoned 
a  policeman,  saying  : 
"  If  this  man  does  n't 
take  off  his  hat  I 
want  him  arrested. 
That  flag  I  may  have 
to  die  for,  and  no 
man  can  show  dis- 
respect for  it  in  my 
presence." 

20.  In  1912  there  was  a  revolution  in  Mexico,  and  the 
dictator,  Huerta,  proved  himself  an  enemy  to  the  United 
States  as  well  as  to  his  own  people.  He  and  his  followers 
showed  no  respect  for  our  flag,  and  nineteen  of  our  sailors 
were  arrested  when  on  a  peaceful  errand  in  Mexico.  This 
was  an  insult  to  the  Stars  and  Stripes,  and  President  Wilson 


Saluting  the  Flag 


862  MY  COUNTRY 

demanded  that  Huerta  order  his  men  to  fire  a  salute  to  the 
flag  as  an  act  of  apology.  This  Huerta  refused  to  do.  Later 
he  was  himself  obliged  to  flee  from  his  country,  and,  strange 
to  say,  died  in  the  United  States  under  the  protection  of 
the  flag  that  he  scorned. 

Keeping  the  Flag  from  the  Enemy 

21.  Men  who  have  fought  for  the  flag  value  it  as  some- 
thing too  precious  for  enemy  hands  to  touch.    During  the 
Civil  War  the  Sixteenth  Eegiment  of  Connecticut  Volunteers, 
after  three  days'  hard  fighting,  was  forced  to  surrender.   Just 
before  the  enemy  swarmed  over  the  breastworks  that  the 
Connecticut  men  had  defended  for  so  long,  the  colonel  of 
the  regiment  shouted  to  his  men  not  to  let  the  flag  fall  into 
the  hands  of  the  foe.    In  an  instant  the  battle  flags  were 
stripped  from  their  poles  and  torn  into  fragments.    Every 
piece  was  carefully  hidden. 

22.  The  men  were  sent  to  a  prison  camp,  where  they, 
stayed  until  the  war  was  over.    When  a  soldier  died  he 
intrusted  his  piece  of  the  flag  to  a  comrade,  and  at  the  end  of 
the  war,  when  the  weary  prisoners  returned  to  their  homes, 
each  brought  with  him  his  bit  of  star  or  stripe.    After  a 
time  these  worn  fragments  were  patched  together,  and  to-day 
the  regimental  colors,  nearly  complete,  are  preserved  in  the 
statehouse  at  Hartford. 

What  the  Flag  Suggests 

23.  In  one  school  the  teacher  hung  the  large  American 
flag  over  the  front  blackboard  only  once  a  week.    There  was 
a  small  flag  on  her  desk  which  the  pupils   saluted   each 


OUK  FLAG  363 

morning,  but  the  other  she  kept  carefully  folded  away  in 
clean  white  paper.  After  a  time  she  noticed  that  on  the  days 
when  the  large  flag  hung  in  the  room,  the  pupils  sat  up 
straighter  at  their  desks  and  spoke  more  clearly  and  eagerly. 
She  wondered  if  the  presence  of  the  large  flag  really  made 
the  difference,  so  one  day  she  asked  each  pupil  to  tell  on 
paper  how  the  flag  made  him  feel  or  what  it  suggested. 

24.  One  boy  said  it  made  him  think  of  climbing  a  high 
mountain ;  another  said  it  always  reminded  him  of  the  ocean 
and  the  great  ships  that  crossed  it.   A  girl  who  had  never 
seen  either  the  ocean  or  a  mountain  explained  that  when- 
ever she  looked  at  the  flag  she  thought  of  music.    Another 
said  it  made  her  feel  sad,  for  it  suggested  battles  and  blood- 
shed.   All  the  pupils,  however,  ended  their  compositions 
with  the  statement  that  the  great  flag  made  them  want  to 
do  something  fine  and  noble.    And  of  course  the  only  thing 
they  could  do  in  the  schoolroom  was  to  study  a  little  harder, 
sit  up  straighter,  and  speak  a  little  more  clearly  and  quickly. 

How  Pupils  can  dishonor  the  Flag 

25.  In   an  Ohio  town  each  morning  the  pupils   of  the 
central  grammar  school  gathered  about  the  flag  pole  for 
the  simple  flag-raising  exercises.    The  custom  was  for  all  the 
pupils  to  stand  at  attention  until  the  flag  was  in  place  and 
then  to  pledge  allegiance  to  it.    One  day  the  principal  sur- 
prised the  pupils  by  saying: 

"  We  shall  have  no  flag  raising  to-day.  Yesterday  afternoon, 
on  their  way  home,  some  of  the  boys  of  this  school  tipped  over 
a  vegetable  cart  belonging  to  an  Italian,  and  then,  as  his  carrots 
and  potatoes  rolled  in  the  street,  ran  off  laughing.  Some  of  the 


364  MY  COUNTRY 

girls  also  laughed  at  the  incident.  This  Italian  is  Antonio 
Appolonio,  and  he  lives  at  8  Cedar  Street.  Not  until  a  com- 
mittee of  the  boys  who  did  this  shabby  trick  have  paid  Appo- 
lonio for  his  vegetables  and  made  an  apology  to  him  can  the 
flag  fly  over  our  schoolhouse.  The  flag  stands  for  courtesy  and 
a  square  deal  to  everybody." 

26.  That  evening  ten  humble-looking  boys  knocked  at 
8  Cedar  Street,  presented  the  astonished  Appolonio  with  ten 
dollars,  and  said  they  were  sorry  for  their  rudeness.    They 
all  shook  hands  with  him,  and  the  last  boy  to  leave  thrust 
a  small  American  flag  into  his  hands. 

Living  up  to  the  Flag 

27.  It  is  dishonoring  the  flag  to  let  it  fly  over  any  school- 
house,  home,  factory,  store,  that  ill-treats  any  person  or  refuses 
to  give  anyone  a  "square  deal."    A  factory  that  employs 
young  children,  a  business  house  that  underpays  its  clerks, 
a  store  that  sells  short  measure  and  poor  goods,  —  none  of 
these  has  any  right  to  raise  the  Stars  and  Stripes.   A  major 
in  the  United  States  army  had  a  twelve-year-old  son  who 
hoped  some  day  also  to  be  a  major.    "Live  up  to  your  flag" 
was  the  rule  the  father  gave  the  boy.   This  rule  is  the  one 
that  school  children  and  men  who  own  factories,  mines,  and 
stores  must  observe  if  they  are  to  be  worthy  to  have  the 
flag  fly  over  them. 

The  Flags  of  Other  Nations 

28.  Every  American  should  show  the  same  respect  for 
the  flag  of  another  nation  that  he  shows  for  his  own.    He 
cannot  be  expected  to  love  another  flag.    But  if  he  has  the 


OUR  FLAG  365 

spirit  of  chivalry  in  him  he  must  respect  what  others  love. 
Every  person  shows  the  same  respect  for  somebody  else's 
mother  that  he  does  for  his  own,  but  no  mother  is  loved 
by  him  as  is  his.  It  is  the  same  with  the  flag.  No  true 
American  would  treat  the  German  flag  as  a  German  once 
treated  the  Stars  and  Stripes.  When  he  found  it  in  a  house 
in  France,  he  deliberately  tore  it  and  buried  it  in  filth.  It 
is  a  matter  of  honor  with  Americans  never  to  vilify  the  flag 
of  another  nation,  even  in  war  time.  But  there  is  still  an- 
other reason  why  Americans,  more  than  any  other  people 
on  the  face  of  the  earth,  must  pay  respect  to  the  flags  of  all 
nations.  The  following  incident  will  tell  the  story. 

29.  On  a  December  evening  in  1916  a  celebration  took 
place  in  New  York  Harbor.  The  great  Statue  of  Liberty  was 
to  be  honored.  The  presidential  yacht  Mayflower  anchored 
in  the  bay  near  Bedloe's  Island,  and  at  five  minutes  before 
six  President  Wilson  touched  a  button  which  flashed  a  wire- 
less signal  to  the  mainland.  In  an  instant  the  great  bronze 
goddess  fairly  leaped  out  of  the  blackness  in  a  mass  of 
flaming  light.  A  young  woman  aviator  swept  out  over  the 
bay  in  an  aeroplane,  circled  down  until  she  almost  touched 
the  upraised  torch,  and  then  whirling,  now  up,  now  down, 
spelled  by  means  of  some  curious  electrical  device  the  word 
"liberty."  At  the  base  of  the  statue  were  draped  sixty  feet  of 
ribbon  from  which  hung  the  flag  of  every  nation.  This  chain 
of  flags  seemed  a  stream  of  blazing  color.  It  was  a  gorgeous 
sight.  But  why  were  there  other  flags  than  the  Stars  and 
Stripes  ?  It  was  to  show  that  the  flag  of  the  United  States 
and  the  liberty  for  which  it  stands  had  drawn  to  it  the  flags 
of  all  the  nations  of  the  world.  The  people  of  every  nation 
are  represented  in  America. 


366  MY  COUNTRY 

Our  First  National  Flag 

30.  Since  the  flag  stands  for  so  much  to  many  millions 
of  people,  it  is  important  that  every  person  should  know 
how  it  came  into  existence,  just  how  it  is  made,  and  what 
are  the  rules  which  should  be  followed  in  displaying  it. 

31.  In  June,  1776,  George  Washington  and  a  committee 
of  Congress  drew  plans  for  a  model  flag  consisting  of  thir- 
teen stripes,  alternate  red  and  white,  and  thirteen  stars  in 
a  blue  field.    Legend  says  that  Betsy  Ross  of  Philadelphia 
made  the  first  flag,  but  of  this  there  is  no  proof.    It  was  of 
this  flag  that  Washington  said : 

We  take  the  star  from  Heaven,  the  red  from  our  Mother 
Country,  separating  it  by  white  stripes,  thus  showing  that  we 
have  separated  from  her,  and  the  white  stripes  shall  go  down 
to  posterity  representing  liberty. 

It  was  adopted  by  Congress  June  14,  1777.  There  had  been 
other  flags  in  the  colonies,  but  this  was  the  beginning  of  our 
Stars  and  Stripes. 

The  Thirteen  Stars  and  Stripes 

32.  The    banner  of   thirteen  stars  and   stripes  was  the 
national  flag  until  1794,  after  Vermont  and  Kentucky  had 
been  added  to  the  Union.  A  law  was  then  passed  adding  two 
stripes  and  two  stars  to  the  flag.    But  it  was  soon  evident 
that  if  a  stripe  should  be  added  for  each  new  state,  either 
the  stripes  must  be  made  very  narrow  or  the  flag  very  large. 
Finally,  in  1818,  Congress  decided  on  the  form  in  which 
the  flag  now  floats  over  every  schoolhouse : 

SECT.  1.  Be  it  enacted  that  from  and  after  the  4th  of  July 
next,  the  flag  of  the  United  States  be  thirteen  horizontal  stripes, 


OUB,  FLAG  367 

alternate  red  and  white  —  that  the  union  have  twenty  stars, 
white  in  a  blue  field. 

SECT.  2.  Be  it  further  enacted,  that  on  the  admission  of  every 
new  State  into  the  Union,  one  star  be  added  to  the  union  of  the 
flag,  and  that  such  addition  shall  take  effect  on  the  4th  of  July 
next  succeeding  such  admission. 

By  an  act  of  Congress  on  October  26,  1912,  the  flag 
now  has  forty-eight  stars,  arranged  in -six  horizontal  rows 
of  eight  each. 

Flag  Rules 

33.  There  are  several  parts  to  the  flag  and  each  has  a 
special  name. 

1.  The  field  is  the  stripes. 

2.  The  union  is  the  blue  and  the  stars. 

3.  The  halyard  is  the  rope  to  which  the  flag  is  attached. 

34.  The  following  are  the  most  important  flag  rules: 

1.  The  union  should  be  seven  stripes  high,  and  its  length 
should  be  about  seven  tenths  of  the  height  of  the  flag. 

2.  The  stars  should  have  five  points,  with  one  point  directly 
upward. 

3.  The  first  and  last  stripes  should  be  red. 

4.  The  flag  should  never  be  festooned  or  draped.    It  shoulcL 
always  be  hung  flat. 

5.  When  carried  in  parade  the  flag  should  be  dipped  in 
salute  to  an  important  person  who  is  reviewing  the  parade. 

6.  The  flag  should  never  be  left  out  all  night. 

7.  To  raise  the  flag  to  half  staff,  it  should  be  run  up  to  the 
peak  and  then  lowered  one  breadth  of  the  flag.    To  lower  it, 
it  should  first  be  run  up  to  the  peak. 

8.  The  flag  should  never  be  allowed  to  touch  the  ground. 


368  MY  COUNTRY 

9.  In  times  of  peace  the  flag  is  not  displayed  every  day 
except  on  schoolhouses  and  government  buildings.  It  is  cus- 
tomary to  fly  it  on 

Lincoln's  Birthday,  February  12 
Washington's  Birthday,  February  22 
Mothers7  Day,  Second  Sunday  in  May 
Memorial  Day,  May  30 
Flag  Day,  June  14 
Independence  Day,  July  4 
Columbus  Day,  October  12 

10.  The  flags  of  other  nations  may  be  displayed  with  the 
Stars  and  Stripes,  but  no  other  flag  should  hang  from  the  same 
staff  or  above  it. 

11.  In  parade,  when  the  flag  passes  a  man  or  boy  he  should 
halt  and  remove  his  hat.    Women  and  girls  may  either  stand 
at  attention  or  merely  in  a  respectful  attitude. 

QUESTIONS  AND  PROBLEMS 

1.  Where  in  your  town  or  city  do  most  of  the  flags  fly? 
2.  Is  there  some  high  building,  or  hill,  or  monument  from  which 
you  would  like  to  see  the  Stars  and  Stripes  flying  ?  Explain 
where  and  why. 

3.  When  our  fleet  went  to  Cuba  in  1898  what  was  one  of 
the  first  things  that  some  of  the  men  did  ? 

4.  What  is  the  flag  song  of  America  ?    Learn  every  stanza 
of  this  and  be  prepared  to  write  it  from  memory  in  class.   You 
will  be  marked  in  (1)  spelling,  (2)  capitalization,  (3)  punctu- 
ation, (4)  division  into  lines  and  stanzas.     If  there  are  any 
words  whose  meaning  you  do  not  know,  write  them  down  and 
bring  the  list  to  class. 

5.  What  does  it  mean  to  "sing  in  opera"?    Have  you  ever 
heard  a  singer  with  a  wonderful  voice  sing  "  The  Star-Spangled 
Banner"  ?   If  so,  tell  about  it. 


OUR,  FLAG  369 

G.  When  you  hear  a  band  play  "  The  Star-Spangled  Banner  " 
or  "America,"  how  do  you  feel  ?  It  is  not  easy  to  tell  this,  but 
try.  Tell  it  on  paper. 

7.  Imagine  that  you  are  Francis  Scott  Key,  and  tell  about 
the  eventful  night  when  "  The   Star-Spangled  Banner"  was 
written.    You  will  need  to  turn  to  your  history  before  you 
are  ready  to  do  this. 

8.  When  Caruso  returned  to  the  United  States  in  1917  he 
saluted  both  the  country  and  the  flag.    Tell  how  he  did  it. 

9.  When  our  flag  goes  by,  (1)  what  men  are  supposed  to 
salute  it  ?    (2)  How  do  they  salute  it  ?    (3)  Must  a  boy  salute  ? 
(4)  Must  the  president  of  the  United  States  ?    Why  ? 

10.  How  may  the  flag  be  saluted  in  words  ? 

11.  Make  a  list  of  great  men,  beginning  with  Washington, 
who  have  helped  make  our  flag. 

12.  Does  the  flag  stand  for  persons  who  have  not  fought 
for  it  ?    13.  Do  you  know  any  boy  or  girLwho-has  don^^oome- 
thing  worthy  of  the  flag  ?    If  so,  tell  about  it. 

14.  Our  flag  stands  for  men  and  women,  boys  and  girls, 
and  for  many  things.    What  are  some  of  these  things  ? 

15.  What  does  the  United  States  flag  mean  to  all  chil- 
dren—  poor  and  rich,  sick  and  well? 

16.  Why  do  the  Jewish  people  love  the  American  flag  more 
than  any  other  ? 

17.  When  does  a  commander  of  a  vessel  haul  down  his 
colors  ?    18.  Tell  about  the  captain  of  the  Chemung,  which  was 
torpedoed  by  a  German  submarine. 

19.  What  is  meant  by  showing  disrespect  to  the  flag? 
20.  Have  you  ever  seen  anyone  show  such  disrespect  ?  If  so, 
tell  about  it.  21.  Who  is  the  person  who  all  the  world  knows 
disgraced  the  flag  during  the  Revolutionary  War  ? 


370  MY  COUNTRY 

22.  Who  was  Huerta?   Why  did  President  Wilson  demand 
that  he  fire  a  salute  to  our  flag  ? 

23.  Tell  about  the  Connecticut  regiment  that  preserved  its 
flag  when  all  its  men  were  captured. 

24.  What  does  the  flag  make  you  think  or  feel  ?    Can  you 
tell  why  ?  If  the  flag  has  never  brought  you  any  special  feeling, 
search  out  the  brightest,  highest  flag  you  can  find  and  watch  it 
blow  in  the  wind.    Then  tell  what  you  thought  or  felt. 

25.  Are  there  ever  days  when  the  flag  should  not  fly  over 
your  schoolhouse  ?    26.  If  one  pupil  does  a  dishonest  or  dis- 
honorable act,  how  does  it  affect  the  whole  school  ? 

27.  What  persons  —  young  or  old  —  have  no  right  to  raise 
the  flag  over  their  places  of  business  or  over  their  homes  ? 

28.  Tell  why  an  American  who  is  proud  of  his  own  flag 
should  always  treat  respectfully  the  flags  of  other  nations. 
29.  What  does  the  text  mean  when  it  says  that  the  Stars  and 
Stripes  have  drawn  the  flags  of  all  nations  to  its  protection  ? 

30.  It  took  three  hundred  years  to  make  the  British  flag. 
(1)  How  many  years  has  it  taken  to  make  our  flag  ?    (2)  Tell 
briefly  its  history. 

31.  Make  a  drawing  of  our  present  flag,  indicating  the  colors 
of  the  different  parts  ;  also  make  a  drawing  of  the  British  flag. 

32.  What   flag  next  to  your  own  do  you  most  respect  ? 
Describe  it  and  tell  why  you  respect  it. 

33.  In  one  school  the  girls  take  turns  in  Washing  the  flag 
when  it  is  soiled.    How  is  your  school  flag  cleaned  ?    Should 
it  be  washed  with  other  things  ? 

34.  Many  poets  and  essayists  have  written  of  the  flag.   You 
have  already  learned  "  The  Star-Spangled  Banner."    Find  an- 
other stirring  poem  or  paragraph  about  the  flag  and  learn  this 
also.    You  may  like  the  following  poem.    If  you  can  find  no 
others,  learn  this  one. 


OUK  FLAG  371 

THE  OLD  FLAG  FOKEVER1 
BY  FRANK  L.  STANTON 

She 's  up  there  —  Old  Glory  —  where  lightnings  are 

sped; 

She  dazzles  the  nations  with  ripples  of  red ; 
And  she  '11  wave  for  us  living,  or  droop  o'er  us  dead  — 
The  flag  of  our  country  forever ! 

She 's  up  there  —  Old  Glory  —  how  bright  the  stars 

stream ! 

And  the  stripes  like  red  signals  of  liberty  gleam ! 
And  we  dare  for  her,  living,  or  dream  the  last  dream 
'Neath  the  flag  of  our  country  forever ! 

She's  up  there  —  Old  Glory  —  no  tyrant-dealt  scars, 
Nor  blur  on  her  brightness,  no  stain  on  her  stars ! 
The  brave  blood  of  heroes  hath  crimsoned  her  bars  — 
She 's  the  flag  of  our  country  forever ! 

1  Used  by  permission  of  Frank  L.  Stanton. 


APPENDIX 


1.  The  people  of  the  United  States  govern  themselves.    Their 
chief  guide  is  the  Constitution.   They  govern  by  means  of  representa- 
tives.   These  representatives  act  for  the  people  in  three  different 
ways :  (1)  by  making  new  laws  or  changing  or  repealing  old  laws ; 
(2)  by  carrying  out   these    laws;    that   is,    seeing   that   they  are 
enforced ;  (3)  by  punishing  those  who  disobey  the  laws,  settling  dis- 
putes, and  explaining  laws.  Those  who  make  the  laws  are  called  legis- 
lators ;  those  who  carry  out  the  laws  are  called  executives ;  those  who 
punish  offenders  and  settle  disputes  are  called  judges  and  justices. 
We  therefore  say  that  our  government  is  divided  into  three  depart- 
ments —  the  legislative,  the  executive,  and  the  judicial.   Any  person, 
from  the  president  at  Washington  to  the  postmaster  and  policeman 
in  your  town,  who  acts  for  the  people  belongs  to  one  of  these  three 
departments. 

2.  These  representatives  are  all  chosen  in  one  of  three  ways  :  they 
are  either  elected  by  the  voters,  or  appointed  by  the  president  or 
governor  or  mayor,  or  employed  through  the  civil  service.    Which- 
ever way  a  government  official  is  selected,  he  is  really  chosen  by  the 
people,  for  it  is  the  people  who  give  to  certain  officials  the  power  to 
appoint  or  to  employ  assistants. 

3.  Voting  is  so  simple  a  matter  that  a  man  often  does  not  realize  its 
importance.   It  is  only  at  the  voting  booth  on  certain  set  days  called 
election  days  that  each  man  can  help  choose  those  who  are  to  make 
and  carry  out  the  laws.    A  man  votes  by  means  of  a  piece  of  paper 
called  a  ballot.    On  this  ballot  are  printed  the  names  of  the  different 
persons  who  wish  to  become  governor  or  mayor  or  senator,  etc.   The 
voter  indicates  by  a  simple  X  which  of  these  persons  he  wishes  to 
serve  him.     He  may  find  that  someone  whom  he  did  not  want 
is  chosen,  instead  of  the  person  for  whom  he  voted.  This  will  some- 
times happen,  for  it  is  the  choice  of  the  largest  number  of  voters 

373 


374  MY  COUNTRY 

who  is  elected.  In  some  states  a  person  may  not  only  help  decide 
which  of  several  men  shall  be  mayor  or  judge  or  governor  but  may 
help  choose  the  candidates  from  whom  the  final  choice  is  made. 
That  is,  there  is  what  is  called  a  primary  (first)  election.  In  other 
cases  it  is  a  small  group  of  men  who  pick  the  candidates  for  whom 
the  people  shall  vote. 

4.  Not  every  man  wants  to  serve  as  mayor  or  governor  or  judge 
or  president.    On  the  other  hand  there  may  be  in  one  city  hundreds 
of  men  anxious  for  office.    How  are  the  people  to  know  which  men 
would  like  to  be  elected  and  which  of  these  would  be  patriotic  and 
faithful?    This  is  where  the  Democratic,  the  Republican,  and  the 
other  political  parties  are  useful.    Any  group  of  people  can  form  a 
party  to  try  to  elect  the  particular  men  that  they  want.    Usually 
each  party  not  only  selects  candidates  for  the  people  to  vote  on  but 
states  what  new  laws  it  wants  passed  or  what  old  laws  it  wants 
changed.    It  is  generally  understood  that  the  successful  candidate 
will  try  to  accomplish  what  his  party  has  promised  for  him.   For 
example,  for  many  years  there  has  been  a  Prohibition  Party;    if 
the  people  had  elected  the  candidate  chosen  by  this  party,  then  this 
president  would  have  used  his  whole  influence  to  try  to  bring  about 
national  prohibition. 

THE  NATION 

5.  The   legislative  department  of  the  United  States  consists  of  a 
Senate  and  House  of  Representatives.    The  members  of  the  House 
of  Representatives  are  elected  directly  by  the  people  every  two  years. 
Each  state  has  a  number  of  representatives  proportional  to  its  pop- 
ulation. Every  ten  years  Congress  fixes  this  proportion.  Each  state, 
however,  no  matter  how  small  its  population,  is  entitled  to  at  least 
one  representative.    Every  representative  to  Congress  must  be  at 
least  25  years  of  age  and  an  inhabitant  of  the  state  in  which  he  is 
chosen,  and  he  must  have  been  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  for 
at   least    seven    years.     Whenever   a   vacancy   occurs    among    the 
representatives  from  any  state  a  special  election  is  held  in  that 
state  to  fill  the  vacancy. 

6.  In  the  Senate  each  state  has  two  members.    In  this  body  it 
makes  no  difference  how  many  or  how  few  people  a  state  has. 


APPENDIX  375 

Senators  are  elected  for  the  term  of  six  years,  and  one  third  of  all 
the  senators  go  out  of  office  every  two  years.  To  be  a  senator  a 
person  must  be  at  least  30  years  of  age  and  an  inhabitant  of  the 
state  by  which  he  is  chosen.  He  must  also  have  been  a  citizen  of 
the  United  States  for  at  least  nine  years. 

7.  All  bills  for  the  purpose  of  raising  revenue  must  be  introduced 
first  in  the  House  of  Representatives.    A  bill  for  any  other  purpose 
may  be  introduced  in  either  House.    After  a  bill  has  been  intro- 
duced in  either  House  it  is  referred  to  one  of  the  committees  of 
that  House.    This  committee  is  supposed  to  report  back  this  bill 
to  the  House,  with  a  recommendation  that  it  pass  or  do  not  pass, 
or  to  report  a   substitute   for  it.     Often,  however,  the  committee 
never  reports  on  the  bill  at  all.    This  is  called  pigeonholing  the  bill. 
This  may  happen  for  several  different  reasons.    There  may  be  so 
many  bills  referred  to  a  committee  that  it  does  not  have  time  to 
consider  them  all,  or  the  bill  may  be  of  a  trifling  or  frivolous  kind, 
etc.    Every  bill  must  be  read  three  times;  on  the  third  reading  it 
comes  up  for  final  decision.    To  pass  a  bill  a  majority  of  all  the 
members  of  the  House  must  be  present,  and  a  majority  of  those 
voting  must  vote  in  favor  of  the  bill.    If  a  bill  passes  one  House 
it  must  be  then  sent  to  the  other.    Here  it  must  go  through  the 
same  course  that  it  did  in  the  first  House.    This  second  House  may 
also  amend  the  bill  and  pass  it.    In  such  a  case  the  bill  as  amended 
is  sent  back  to  the  first  House,  which  votes  on  the  amendments. 
If  this  House  rejects  the  amendments  a  conference  committee  is 
generally  appointed  by  each  House.   These  committees  come  together 
and  attempt  to  agree  upon  some  compromise  bill  which  can  pass 
both   Houses.     Sometimes  these   committees    succeed   in    bringing 
about  an  agreement  between  the  two  Houses,  sometimes  not.    In 
this  latter  case  the  bill  will  fail  of  passage  in  any  form. 

8.  After  a  bill  has  finally  passed  both  Houses  it  is  sent  to  the 
president.    If  the  president  approves  the  bill  he  signs  it,  and  it  then 
becomes  a  law ;  if  he  disapproves  it  he  "  vetoes  it " ;  that  is,  he 
returns  the  bill,  together  with  his  objections,  to  the  House  where 
the  bill  originated.    Each  House  in  turn  now  votes  again  on  the 
bill.    The  bill  to  pass  requires  a  two-thirds  vote  of  the  members 
voting  in  each  House  instead  of  a  mere  majority.    If,  however,  it 


376  MY  COUNTRY 

receives  this  two-thirds  vote  in  both  Houses  it  becomes  a  law.  This 
is  called  passing  a  law  over  the  president's  veto.  This  has  happened 
only  a  very  few  times  during  the  whole  history  of  the  United  States. 
If  the  president  keeps  any  bill  ten  days  after  it  has  been  presented 
to  him,  without  either  signing  or  vetoing  it,  it  becomes  a  law  unless 
Congress  adjourns  during  these  ten  days. 

9.  Congress  cannot  legislate  on  any  subject  except  those  over 
which  the  Constitution  gives  it  power.    (Your  textbook  of  history 
contains  the  full  text  of  the  Constitution  and  its  amendments.) 

10.  At  the  head  of  the  executive  department  of  the  government 
stands  the  president  of  the  United  States.    The  president  and  vice 
president  are  elected  by  the  people  indirectly  —  that  is,  the  people 
do  not  themselves  vote  for  the  candidates  for  these  offices.    Instead 
of  this  each  state  elects  a  certain  number  of  men  as  presidential 
electors.    It  was  the  intention  of  the  framers  of  the  Constitution 
that  these  electors  should  be  free  to  use  their  own  discretion  in  vot- 
ing for  president,  but  in  practice  they  are  merely  the  mouthpiece  of 
the  voters  of  the  state.    These  electors  are  obliged,  by  honor  and  the 
force  of  public  opinion,  although  not  by  law,  to  vote  for  the  regularly 
nominated  candidates  of  their  party  for  president  and  vice  president. 
After  being  chosen,  the  electors  from  each  state  meet  in  their  state 
and  vote  by  ballot  for  president  and  vice  president.    They  then  make 
lists  of  the  persons  voted  for  and  of  the  number  of  votes  which  each 
received.    They  sign,  certify,  and  seal  up  these  lists  and  send  them 
to  the  president  of  the  Senate  at  Washington.   These  lists  are  opened 
and  the  votes  counted  by  the  president  of  the  Senate  in  the  presence 
of  both  Houses  of  Congress.    If  any  person  is  then  found  to  have 
received  a  majority  of  all  the  votes  cast  by  these  electors  for  presi- 
dent he  is  declared  elected  president  of  the  United  States.    If  no 
person  has  received  such  a  majority  the  House  of  Representatives 
then  has  the  right  to  choose  any  one  of  the  three  receiving  the 
highest  number  of  votes. 

11.  The  oath  which  the  president  must  take  before  entering  upon 
his  offiee  is  as  follows  : 

I  do  solemnly  swear  (or  affirm)  that  I  will  faithfully  execute  the  office 
of  President  of  the  United  States,  and  will,  to  the  best  of  ray  ability, 
preserve,  protect,  and  defend  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 


APPENDIX  377 

The  Constitution  itself  fixes  what  the  powers  and  duties  of  the 
president  shall  be,  the  chief  of  which  are  (1)  to  act  as  commander 
in  chief  of  the  army  and  navy;  (2)  (by  and  with  the  advice  and 
consent  of  the  Senate)  to  make  treaties;  (3)  to  appoint  ambassa- 
dors, consuls,  and  other  public  ministers,  judges  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  and  all  other  officers  of  the  United  States  whose  appoint- 
ments are  not  otherwise  provided  for. 

12.  Assisting  the  president  as  chief  executive  officers  of  the  nation 
are  the  Cabinet  (see  p.  178),  whom  the  president  appoints  and  the 
Senate  affirms.    There  are  many  special  commissions  and  bureaus 
in  addition  to  those  headed  by  the  Cabinet  officers,  the  heads  of 
which  the  president  appoints.    All  of  the  appointments  of  the  presi- 
dent must  be  approved  by  the  Senate. 

13.  One  of  the  most  important  powers  of  the  president  is  that  of 
summoning  a  special  session  of  Congress  whenever  there  is  urgent 
business  to  be  attended  to.    The  president  acts  as  leader  for  the 
nation  when  in  his  message,  which  he  either  sends  to  Congress  at 
its  opening  session  or  himself  reads  before  it,  he  points  out  the 
dangers  and  needs  of  the  people. 

14.  The  judicial  department  of  the  United  States  consists  of  several 
courts.    The  Constitution  provides  that  there  shall  be  one  Supreme 
Court,  and  leaves  it  to  Congress  to  determine  whether  or  not  there 
shall  be  any  inferior  United  States  courts.  Congress  has  established 
three  grades  of  inferior  courts  —  the  circuit  courts  of  appeals,  the 
circuit  courts,  and  the  district  courts.    There  are  nine  circuit  courts 
of  appeals,  nine  circuit  courts,  and  more  than  ninety  district  courts. 
There  is  at  least  one  district  court  in  each  state.    A  number  of 
judicial  districts  are  grouped  together  to  form  a  judicial  circuit.    In 
each  judicial  circuit  there  is  a  circuit  court  and  a  circuit  court  of 
appeals.    One  of  the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  is  assigned  to 
each  circuit. 

15.  Besides  these   regular   courts  there  are   also  a  few  special 
courts.    The  most  important  of  these  is  the  Court  of  Claims,  to 
which  the  United  States  allows  claims  against  itself  to  be  presented. 

16.  The  Supreme  Court  is  the  final  court  of  appeal.    Its  decisions 
must  stand  although  this  court  itself  may  reconsider  a  decision. 
Besides  listening  to  appeals  from  lower  eourts,  these  nine  judges, 


378  MY  COUNTRY 

who  meet  in  Washington  every  year  in  October  and  hold  daily  ses- 
sions, must  be  ready  to  decide  whether  any  state  or  national  law  is 
constitutional.  That  is  why  this  court  has  been  called  the  guardian 
of  the  United  States  Constitution.  No  city,  county,  or  state,  and  not 
even  Congress,  can  pass  any  law  which  is  contrary  to  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States. 

17.  When  a  person  breaks  a  law  passed  by  Congress  or  one  of 
the  laws  included  in  the  United  States  Constitution,  he  is  brought 
before  one  of  the  national  courts.    For  example,  if  a  storekeeper  in 
New  Jersey  sells  impure  olive  oil  he  can  be  arrested  and  tried  before 
a  United  States  court,  for  it  is  a  United  States  law  which  he  has 
broken.    If  a  man  in  any  state  insults  the  flag  he  is  tried  in  a 
similar  court.    If  one  state  wants  to  sue  another  state,  or  a  citizen 
of  California  wants  to  bring  suit  against  someone  in  Maine,  the 
case  would  probably  be  tried  in  the  federal  court  (federal  court  is 
another  name  for  the  United  States  court). 

THE  STATE 

18.  Every  state  has  a  constitution  of  its  own,  which  is  the  same 
kind  of  guide  to  the  state  that  the  United  States  Constitution  is  to 
the  whole  nation.    The  powers  of  government  in  every  state  are 
divided  among  three  departments  —  the  legislative,  the  executive, 
the  judicial. 

19.  The  legislative  department  of  every  state  consists  of  two  parts 
—  the  senate,  which  is  the  smaller  part,  and  the  house  of  representa- 
tives (in  some  states  this  is  called  the  assembly  and  in  others  the 
house  of  delegates}.    The  term  of  office  of  the  members  of  the  legis- 
latures varies  in  the  different  states.    In  most  states,  however,  the 
senators  serve  for  two  or  four  years  and  the  representatives  for  two. 
In  all  states  special  sessions  of  the  legislature  may  be  called  by  the 
governor  whenever  necessary;  regular  sessions  occur  in  some  states 
annually,  in  others  every  two  years.    While  in  session  the  whole 
time  of  the  senators  and  representatives  is  given  to  the  making  of 
laws.    Any  member  of  either  the  senate  or  the  house  of  representa- 
tives may  file  with  the  clerk  a  copy  of  a  bill  which  he  wants  passed. 
Each  bill  goes  to  some  one  of  the  many  committees  of  the  senate 


APPENDIX  379 

or  the  house.  This  is  to  save  time.  Since  any  senator  or  representa- 
tive may  enter  as  many  bills  as  he  pleases,  it  is  easy  to  see  that  if 
there  were  not  committees  to  decide  which  were  most  important, 
the  work  of  making  laws  would  be  hopelessly  slow.  The  committees 
decide  which  bills  to  bring  before  the  legislators.  All  bills  must  be 
carefully  worded  before  they  are  voted  on.  When  a  bill  first  comes 
before  either  branch  of  the  legislature,  the  members  discuss  it  and 
often  suggest  changes.  If  a  change  is  made,  it  is  called  an  amend-  » 

ment.  After  a  bill  has  been  talked  over  and  changed,  it  is  voted  on. 
This  means  that  in  the  senate  the  presiding  officer  calls  on  those 
who  approve  the  bill  to  say  Aye  and  those  who  oppose  to  say  No.  If 
there  is  any  doubt  about  the  vote,  the  roll  is  called  and  each  mem- 
ber's vote  is  checked  up.  When  the  senate  passes  a  bill,  it  is  taken 
to  the  house  of  representatives.  There  it  is  discussed  and  finally 
voted  on.  If  it  is  passed  by  the  house  it  goes  to  the  governor. 
Within  a  specified  number  of  days  the  governor  must  return  the 
bill  to  the  senate.  If  he  has  signed  it,  it  becomes  a  law ;  if  he  has 
not  signed  it,  then  the  bill  is  killed  unless  both  senate  and  house 
again  pass  it,  in  which  case  it  can  become  a  law  without  the  gov- 
ernor's approval.  If  the  governor  fails  either  to  veto  or  to  return  a 
bill  within  the  specified  time,  the  bill  becomes  a  law  without  his 
approval.  When  a  bill  is  first  introduced  into  the  house  of  represent- 
atives, it  runs  a  similar  course,  first  going  to  the  senate  and  then  to 
the  governor.  Any  law  which  has  been  passed  by  one  legislature 
may  be  repealed  by  another,  or  it  may  be  amended.  The  lieutenant 
governor  acts  as  presiding  officer  of  the  senate.  In  the  house  of 
representatives  the  presiding  officer  is  the  speaker,  who  is  chosen  by 
the  representatives  from  their  own  number. 

20.  When  the  legislature  first  assembles  the  governor  sends  to  it 
a  message,  something  like  the  president's  message  to  Congress.    In 
this  he  often  suggests  the  most  important  things  for  the  legislators 
to  discuss  and  even  what  laws  ought  to  be  passed.    In  this  way  he 
is  indirectly  helping  make  laws. 

21.  In  general  it  is  true  that  all  state  laws  are  made  only  by  the 
people's  representatives;  that  is,  the  members  of  the  senate  and 
house  of  representatives.  But  the  people  have  devised  a  plan  whereby 
all  the  voters  can,  if  desired,  decide  whether  or  not  a  certain  law 


380  MY  COUNTRY 

shall  pass.  This  is  through  the  initiative  and  referendum.  By  initiar 
tive  is  meant  the  right  of  the  people  to  propose  a  law  to  the  legisla- 
ture, and  by  referendum  is  meant  that  before  an  act  passed  by  the 
legislature  becomes  a  law,  it  shall  first  be  submitted  to  the  people 
and  decided  by  popular  vote.  In  some  states  also  the  people  have 
the  power  to  recall  public  officials  who  prove  unsatisfactory. 

22.  At  the  head  of  the  executive  department  of  each  state  is  the 
governor,  who  is  elected  by  popular  vote  for  a  term  of  from  one  to 
four  years.  The  position  of  the  governor  in  the  state  government 
corresponds  in  general  to  the  position  of  the  president  in  the  national 
government.  The  governor's  most  important  duty  is  to  see  that  the 
laws  are  carried  out.  He  also  has  the  power  of  appointing  certain 
officials  —  in  some  states  this  power  is  greater  than  in  others.  In 
most  states  he  can  also  pardon  criminals  and  veto  the  acts  passed  by 
the  legislature.  In  several  states  there  is  an  executive  council  to  advise 
and  assist  the  governor,  and  in  most  of  the  states  there  is  a  lieuten- 
ant governor,  who  holds  a  position  in  the  state  similar  to  that  of  the 
vice  president  in  the  national  government.  The  most  important  state 
officials  who  assist  the  governor  in  executing  the  laws  of  the  state 
correspond  to  the  president's  Cabinet,  but  unlike  this  cabinet  they 
are  usually  elected  by  the  people.  Besides  the  lieutenant  governor 
the  most  important  of  these  state  executive  officers  are  : 

(1)  The  secretary  of  state,  who  keeps  the  records  of  the  state  and 
issues  state  papers.  He  has  charge  of  the  great  seal  of  the  state, 
which  must  be  attached  to  important  papers.  (2)  The  comptroller,  or 
auditor,  who  is  a  kind  of  head  bookkeeper  for  the  state.  He  has 
charge  of  collecting  taxes  and  attends  to  the  debts,  revenue,  and  prop- 
erty of  the  state.  (3)  The  state  treasurer,  to  whom  is  intrusted  the 
state  money.  He  can  pay  out  money  only  on  the  order  of  the  comp- 
troller. (4)  The  attorney-general,  who  is  the  legal  adviser  of  the 
governor  and  other  state  officials.  He  appears  for  the  state  in  all 
lawsuits  in  which  the  state  is  involved.  (5)  The  superintendent  of 
public  instruction,  or  commissioner  of  education,  whose  duty  it  is  to  see 
that  the  state  laws  regarding  schools  are  carried  out.  He  usually  has 
the  assistance  of  agents  who  travel  through  the  state,  visiting  schools, 
talking  with  teachers,  and  in  other  ways  keeping  in  touch  with  all 
matters  affecting  the  schools.  Every  few  years,  sometimes  oftener, 
he  issues  a  report  telling  of  the  conditions  of  the  schools  and 


APPENDIX  381 

recommending  changes.  In  addition  to  these  officials  there  are 
many  others,  and  also  many  boards,  which  help  attend  to  the 
state's  business.  Some  of  these  are :  department  of  agriculture, 
board  of  tax  equalization,  fish  and  game  commissioners,  board  of 
health,  board  of  public  works,  superintendent  of  banks,  board  of 
charities,  inspector  of  factories,  immigration  commissioners,  railroad 
commissioners. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  every  board,  every  commissioner, 
as  well  as  the  clerks  and  bookkeepers  who  assist  these  boards  and 
commissioners,  are  executives  of  the  state.  Some  executives  are 
elected  by  the  people  direct,  some  are  appointed  by  the  governor, 
some  are  hired  through  the  civil  service;  but  all  are  paid  by  the 
state  and  owe  to  the  people  the  best  service  that  they  can  render. 

23.  The  judicial  department  of  the  state  generally  consists  of  four 
grades  of  courts.    First,  those  in  charge  of  a  justice  of  the  peace,  who 
hears  "petty  police  offenses  and  civil  suits  for  trifling  sums."  Second, 
county  and  municipal  courts,  which  hear  more  important  cases. 
An  important  part  of  the  work  of  many  county  courts  is  that  of 
probating  wills,  appointing  guardians  for  orphans,  etc.    Third,  circuit 
or  district  courts,  in  which  a  person  may  have  his  case  decided  by  a 
jury.    Fourth,  the  supreme  court.    If  any  person  believes  that  he  has 
not  been  justly  treated  by  the  justice  of  the  peace,  he  can  appeal  to 
the  county  or  municipal  court  for  another  hearing.    If  he  still  feels 
that  he  has  not  obtained  justice  he  can  appeal  to  the  district  court, 
and  then  finally  to  the  supreme  court.    This  highest  state  court 
does  not  decide  whether  or  not  a  man  is  guilty ;  it  merely  decides 
whether  he  shall  have  a  new  trial  in  the  lower  court.   In  some  states 
the  judges  are  appointed  by  the  governor  and  in  some  they  are 
elected  by  the  people. 

COUNTIES  AND  TOWNS 

24.  Every  state  is  divided  into  counties,  and  in  nearly  all  states 
the  counties  are  in  turn  divided  into  towns  or  townships.    However, 
the  town  is  not  merely  a  division  of  a  county,  or  a  county  merely  a 
group  of  townships.    The  county  and  the  town  are  rival  political  divi- 
sions, arising  from  different  political  and  social  conditions.    In  some 


382  MY  COUNTRY 

states  the  counties  are  by  far  the  more  important,  and  in  others  the 
towns.  It  is  impossible  here  to  give  in  detail  the  different  plans 
combining  the  county  and  township  in  different  states.  The  systems 
of  these  states,  however,  fall  into  two  general  classes,  in  one  of 
which  the  county  is  of  main  and  the  township  of  secondary  impor- 
tance, and  the  other  in  which  the  importance  of  the  town  or  town- 
ship is  greater  than  that  of  the  county.  The  former  is  called  the 
county-commissioner  system  and  the  latter  the  supervisor  system. 

'  25.  Under  the  former  system  the  county  is  governed  by  a  board 
of  county  commissioners  and  certain  other  officials  elected  by  the  peo- 
ple of  the  whole  county.  The  towns  under  this  system  appear  rather 
as  subdivisions  of  the  county  than  as  distinct  political  organizations. 
Under  this  system  there  is  no  town  meeting,  no  legislative  powers 
belonging  to  the  town,  few  town  officers  (and  these  with  limited 
power). 

26.  Under  the  second  county  system  the  towns  are  of  much  more 
importance.    In  some  states  having  this  system  there  is  a  town 
meeting.    In  all  of  the  states,  however,  the  town  governments  have 
charge  of  most  matters  of  local  importance.    Each  town  elects,  gen- 
erally each  year,  a  set  of  town  officials,  the  most  important  of  whom 
is  the  supervisor,  who  is  the  executive  head  of  the  township.    The 
supervisors  from  each  town  together  constitute  the  governing  board 
of  the  county.    Thus,  under  this  system  the  county  is  a  collection 
of   townships   instead   of   the   township   being   a   division   of   the 
county. 

27.  In  New  England  the  town  is  more  important  than  the  county. 
Here  the  county  is  chiefly  a  judicial  district  and  elects  county  judi- 
cial officers.    The  principal  executive  officers  of  the  New  England 
county  are  the  county  commissioner  and  treasurer.    Their  principal 
duties  are  the  care  and  maintenance  of  the  county  buildings,  jail, 
reform  school,  etc. ;   the  issuance  of  certain  licenses,  the  care  of 
intertown  roads,  etc.    The  New  England  town  meetings  are  one  of 
the  most  perfectly  democratic  systems  of  government  in  the  world. 
These  meetings  act  as  the  legislature  of  the  towns,  decide  all  local 
ordinances  and  questions  of  money,  and  elect  the  executives  of  the 
town.  The  chief  officers  elected  are  the  board  of  selectmen,  generally 
three  in  number. 


APPENDIX  383 

CITIES  AND  INCORPORATED  TOWNS  AND  VILLAGES 

28.  County  and  township  governments  answer  all  the  necessary 
purposes  of  local  government  for  all  but  the  most  thickly  settled  local- 
ities.   In  these  thickly  settled  localities  many  wants  arise  which  are 
not  met  with  in  other  communities.   To  meet  the  necessities  of  these 
localities  the  state  legislatures  have  created  cities  and  incorporated 
towns  and  villages.    These  are  called  public  corporations,  or  municipal 
corporations.    In  some  respects  these  resemble  private  corporations, 
and  in  other  respects  they  resemble  other  public  political  divisions. 
To  each  the  state  issues  a  charter,  which  clearly  defines  its  powers, 
just  as  the  state  constitution  defines  the  powers  of  the  state. 

29.  Cities  or  incorporated  towns  and  villages  may  exist  in  connec- 
tion with  townships.    For  example,  the  more  thickly  populated  por- 
tion of  a  township  may  be  made  into  an  incorporated  village,  which 
still  remains  part  of  the  township  and  the  inhabitants  of  which  vote 
in  township  elections ;  or  several  adjoining  thickly  populated  town- 
ships may  be  united  into  a  large  city,  while  each  still  retains  its  old 
township  government  for  certain  purposes.    Incorporated  towns  and 
villages  differ  from  cities  in  that  they  are  smaller  and  their  govern- 
ments more  simple,  but  their  general  organization  is  the  same. 

30.  The  powers  and  systems  of  government  of  cities  differ  widely 
in  different  states  and  even  in  different  cities  in  the  same  state. 
Every  city  has  an  executive  and  a  legislative  department,  but  either 
no  judicial  department  or  one  with  very  slight  powers  and  duties. 
City  courts  and  police  courts  are  mainly  state  courts ;  that  is,  under 
control  of  state-appointed  officials  and  state  regulations.    All  the 
work  of  these  courts  which  properly  make?  them  a  part  of  the  city 
government  is  their  enforcement  of  the  city  ordinances. 

31.  The  executive  head  of  the  city  is  the  mayor.    His  duties  in  the 
city  resemble  those  of  the  governor  in  a  state  or  the  president  in 
the  United  States.    He  sees  that  the  laws  and  ordinances  are  exe- 
cuted, appoints  a  large  number  of  city  officers,  and  generally  has  a 
veto  power  over  the  acts  of  the  city  legislative  body.    Sometimes  he 
has  the  power  to  pardon  offenses  against  the  city  ordinances.    The 
mayor  of  a  city  is  elected  by  the  popular  vote  of  the  people  of  the  city. 
The  heads  of  the  different  executive  departments  of  the  city  are  some- 
times elected  by  the  people  and  sometimes  appointed  by  the  mayor. 


384  MY  COUNTEY 

32.  The  city  legislative  department  corresponds  in  some  respects  to 
the  board  of  directors  of  a  private  corporation  and  in  others  to  the 
legislative  bodies  of  the  state  or  nation.    The  city  legislative  body 
in  some  cities  consists  of  two  branches  and  in  others  of  one.   In 
those  cities  having  a  single  house  it  is  called  the  board  of  aldeiinen. 
Where  there  are  two  houses  the  upper  one  is  generally  called  the 
board  of  aldermen  and  the  lower  the  common  council.    Members  of 
these  houses  are  elected  by  the  people,  almost  always  for  either  one 
or  two  years.   In  many  cities  the  terms  of  office  of  the  members  of 
the  board  of  aldermen  are  so  arranged  that  the  terms  of  one  half  of 
the  members  expire  each  year,  so  that  there  will  always  be  at  least  one 
half  of  the  members'  who  have  had  experience  in  the  work  of  the  body. 
The  laws  which  the  legislative  department  pass  are  called  ordinances. 

33.  Since  1900  the  Galveston,  Te.xas,  plan  of  governing  a  city  by 
a  commission  and  judges  elected  by  the  people,  one  of  the  commis- 
sioners being  called  the  mayor-president,  has  been  tried  out  success- 
fully in  several  cities.    The  mayor  presides  at  the  meetings  of  the 
commission.     This  commission  appoints  one   of   the  members  to 
supervise  the  fire  and  police  department;  another  the  finance  and 
tax  department ;   another  the  public  works  of  water  and  sewage ; 
another  the  public  works  of  streets  and  public  buildings  and  parks. 
These  commissioner  heads  of  the  departments  appoint  their  chief 
staff  and  assistants  under  the  control  of  the  commission  as  a  whole ; 
and  the  numerous  employees  are  appointed  by  the  commissioner  and 
his  chief  assistants. 

•                        The  people  elect 
City  Commission | Judges  and  court  officers 

r~  •  ~~i 

Commissioner  of  Public  Works 
Commissioner  of  Public  Affairs 
Commissioner  of  Public  Health  and  Safety 
Commissioner  of  Supplies 
Commissioner  of  Finance  and  Taxes 

These  commissioners  are  public-spirited  men  who  serve  only  part  of 
their  time,  for  a  small  salary,  and  may  carry  on  their  own  business 
as  well.  Better  men  can  often  be  persuaded  to  **  run  "  for  commis- 
sioners under  these  conditions  than  when  they  must  give  their 
whole  time  to  the  city  business. 


APPENDIX  385 

34.  In  1907  the  Des  Moines  plan  of  city  government  was  origi- 
nated, by  which  the  commissioners  were  expected  to  give  their  whole 
time  to  their  city  work  and  were  paid  salaries  sufficient  to  live  on. 
If  these  men  do  not  attend  to  their  business  properly,  they  can  be 
put  out  of  office  by  the  initiative,  referendum,  and  recall. 

35.  In  some  cities,  like  Boston,  the  city  government  is  as  follows : 


The  people  elect 
1 

Judiciary 

Mayor 
The  mayor  appoints 

1 
City  Council 

Chief  of  Police    Fire  Com-    Commissioner  of     Health    Superintendent 
missioner        Public  Works       Officer         of  Streets 

The  mayor  is  the  real  head  of  the  city  and  on  him  rests  the  blame 
for  poor  government.  The  mayor  recommends  the  amount  of  money 
to  be  expended  in  each  department.  The  city  council  may  cut  down 
or  reject  entirely  the  mayor's  budget  recommendations  but  cannot 
increase  them. 

36.  Another  form  of  city  government  is  for  the  people  to  elect  a 
judiciary,  also  a  city  council  which  appoints  a  city  manager  at  a  large 
salary  to  run  the  city  affairs  as  a  business  man  would  run  his  business. 
The  city  manager  appoints  as  his  assistants  the  heads  of  the  follow- 
ing departments :  public  service,  public  safety,  law,  finance,  and 
public  welfare.  The  city  affairs  are  the  more  honestly  administered 
the  more  definitely  the  responsibility  is  fixed  upon  qne  individual 
who  can  be  recalled  if  his  action  makes  this  a  wise  move. 


CITIZENSHIP 

37.  There  is  throughout  the  United  States  a  double  citizenship  — 
a  person  is  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  and  also  of  some  particular 
state.  The  fourteenth  amendment  to  the  Constitution  says : 

w  All  persons  born  or  subject  to  the  jurisdiction  thereof  (the 
United  States)  are  citizens  of  the  United  States  and  of  the  state 
wherein  they  reside." 


386  MY  COUNTRY 

Any  person  who  becomes  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  at  the  same 
time  also  becomes  a  citizen  of  the  state  in  which  he  lives.  A  person 
owes  allegiance  both  to  the  United  States  and  to  his  own  state,  and 
may  be  guilty  of  treason  against  both  or  either.  The  allegiance  to 
the  United  States  is  superior  to  that  of  the  state,  and  when  the  duties 
which  a  person  owes  to  the  two  governments  seem  to  conflict,  he 
must  do  his  duty  to  his  national  government. 

38.  All  persons  born  in  the  United  States  are  citizens  of  it.  All 
foreigners  (except  Mongolians)  admitted  to  the  United  States  may 
become  citizens  after  they  have  lived  here  continuously  for  five  years, 
provided  they  comply  with  the  following  law  (special  changes  to 
meet  war  conditions  were  made  in  1917,  but  the  main  requirements 
are  unchanged).  They  must  first  appear  before  a  court  and  declare 
their  intention  to  become  citizens.  They  must  fill  out  and  swear  to 
the  following : 

FORM  OF  DECLARATION  OF  INTENTION 


I, aged years,  occupation ,  do  declare  on 

oath  (affirm)  that  my  personal  description  is :  Color ,  com- 
plexion   ,  height  ,  weight  ,  color  of  hair 

,  color   of   eyes  ,  other   visible   distinctive   marks 

;  I  was  born  in on  the day  of , 

anno  Domini ;  I  now  reside  at ;  I  emigrated  to  the 

United  States  of  America  from on  the  vessel ;  My 

last  foreign  residence  was It  is  my  bona  fide  intention  to 

renounce  forever  all  allegiance  and  fidelity  to  any  foreign  prince, 

potentate,  state,  or  sovereignty,  and  particularly  to ,  of  which 

I  am  now  a  citizen  (subject)  ;  I  arrived  at  the  (port)  of in 

the  State  (Territory  or  District)  of ,  on  or  about  the 

day  of ,  anno  Domini ;  I  am  not  an  anarchist ;  I 

am  not  a  polygamist  nor  a  believer  in  the  practice  of  polygamy; 
and  it  is  my  intention  in  good  faith  to  become  a  citizen  of  the 
United  States  of  America  and  to  permanently  reside  therein.  So 
help  me  God.  (Original  signature  of  declarant)  

Subscribed  and  sworn  to  (affirmed)  before  me  this day 

of ,  anno  Domini " 

(Official  character  of  attestor.) 


APPENDIX  387 

Two  years  later  the  person  applying  for  citizenship  must  appear  in 
court,  must  furnish  proof  that  he  has  lived  continuously  in  the 
United  States  for  five  years,  and  must  fill  out  and  swear  to  the  fol- 
lowing statement.  He  must  prove  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  court 
that  he  can  speak  the  English  language  and  must  answer  simple 
questions  about  the  history  and  government  of  this  country. 


PETITION  FOR  NATURALIZATION 

To  the Court : 

The  petition  of respectfully  shows : 

First.    My  full  name  is 

Second.    My  place  of  residence  is  number Street,  City  of 

,  State  (Territory  or  District)  of 

Third.    My  occupation  is 

Fourth.    I  was  born  on  the day  of ,  at 

Fifth.    I  emigrated  to  the  United  States  from on  or  about 

the day  of ,  anno  Domini ,  and  arrived  at 

the  port  of in  the  United  States,  on  the  vessel 

Sixth.    I  declared  my  intention  to  become  a  citizen  of  the  United 

States  on  the day  of at ,  in  the 

Court  of 

Seventh.    I  am married.    My  wife's  name  is She 

was  born  in ,  and  now  resides  at I  have 

children,  and  the  name,  date  and  place  of  birth  and  place  of  resi- 
dence of  each  of  said  children  is  as  follows : 

Eighth.  I  am  not  a  disbeliever  in,  or  opposed  to,  organized  govern- 
ment, or  a  member  of  or  affiliated  with  any  organization  or  body  of 
persons  teaching  disbelief  in  organized  government.  I  am  not  a 
polygamist  nor  a  believer  in  the  practice  of  polygamy.  I  am  attached 
to  the  principles  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  it  is 
my  intention  to  become  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  and  to 
renounce  absolutely  and  forever  all  allegiance  and  fidelity  to  any 
foreign  prince,  potentate,  state  or  sovereignty,  and  particularly  to 

,  of  which  at  this  time  I  am  a  citizen  (or  subject),  and  it  is 

my  intention  to  reside  permanently  in  the  United  States. 

Ninth.    I  am  able  to  speak  the  English  language. 

Tenth.  I  have  resided  continuously  in  the  United  States  of  America 
for  a  term  of  five  years  at  least,  immediately  preceding  the  date  of 


388  MY  COUNTRY 

this  petition,  to  wit,  since ,  anno  Domini ,  and  in 

the  State  (Territory  or  District)  of for  one  year  at  least 

next  preceding  the  date  of  this  petition,  to  wit,  since day 

of ,  anno  Domini 

Eleventh.    I  have  not  heretofore  made  petition  for  citizenship  to 

any  court.    (I  made  petition  for  citizenship  to  the Court  of 

,  at ,  and  the  said  petition  was  denied  by  the  said 

court  for  the  following  reasons  and  causes,  to  wit and  the 

cause  of  such  denial  has  since  been  cured  or  removed.) 
Attached  hereto  and  made  a  part  of  this  petition  are  my  declara- 
tion of  intention  to  become  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  and  the 
Certificate  from  the  Bureau  of  Naturalization,  Department  of  Labor, 
required  by  the  law. 

Wherefore   your  petitioner   prays  that  he  may  be    admitted  a 
citizen  of  the  United  States  of  America. 

Dated 

Signature  of  petitioner 

If  the  foreigner  is  "  passed,"(then  his  wife  and  his  children  (those 
under  twenty-one  years  of  age)  also  become  citizens.  / 

<a^    fKI*  - 


INDEX 


Adams,  John  Quincy,  170,  171 

Alaska,  49,  326,  330 

Aldermen,  148,  201,  384 

Ambassadors,  180 

America,  what  children  in  foreign 
countries  think  of,  1-2 ;  its  snow- 
coverqd-  peaks,  3 ;  the  United 
States,  4 ;  ports  of,  5,  9 ;  wheat 
fields  of,  6,  7,  11 ;  climate  of,  8  ; 
land  in,  8-11 ;  immigrants  to,  8 ; 
the  people  of,  15-26;  the  lan- 
guage of,  43-55 ;  a  children's 
nation,  85 

American,  the,  making,  56-75  ;  the 
right  kind  of,  56-57 ;  and  liberty, 
57-62  ;  using  hands  and  brain, 
63-66;  "mastering"  useful  work, 
63-64;  mastering  the  English 
language,  66-68 ;  honoring  his 
country,  68-69 ;  serving  his  coun- 
try, 69-73  ;  as  a  citizen,  90 

Annapolis,  Naval  Academy  at,  277, 
334-336,  339 

Army,  protects  our  borders,  320; 
protects  our  neighbors,  322  ;  in 
China,  323-325,  338;  protects 
pioneer  settlers,  325 ;  helped 
build  railroads,  326 ;  in  Alaska, 
326  ;  in  Panama  and  Cuba,  327  ; 
West  Point  Academy,  334-336 ; 
discipline  in  the,  336 ;  repre- 
sents the  people,  336-337  ;  the 
Chinese  praise  our,  339-341  ; 
unworthy  soldiers  in,  341 ;  the 
president  and,  344;  the  Red 
Cross,  345-347;  all  the  people 
and,  347 

Assembly,  138,  378 

Attorney-General,  179 

Austria-Hungary,  306,  314 


Ballot,  373 

Beauty,  made  possible  by  thrift, 

264-267 

Belgium,  28,  296,  306,  309,  311 
Bell,  Alexander  Graham,  98,  125 
Bills,  144,  375 
Blind,  caring  for  the,  21 
Boston,  Liberty  Tree  of,  33 
Boxer  Rebellion,  323-325,  338 
Boy  Scouts,  79,  83,  133 
Boys,  money  value  of,  93 ;  present 

and  future   values  of,   93,   94 ; 

training,  94 
Building  and  loan  associations,  255 

Cabinet,  178,  179,  377 

Capitol,  Washington,  37,  136,  137, 
147 

Capitols,  state,  147 

Charleston,  S.C.,  Liberty  Tree  hi,  34 

Charter,  city,  383 

Child  labor,  111-122  ;  children  of 
the  mills,  111 ;  in  Philadelphia, 
112;  in  mines,  112;  in  cigar 
factories,  112 ;  in  canning  fac- 
tories, 113  ;  in  cotton  mills,  113- 
115 ;  number  of  children  workers, 
115  ;  why  mills  employ  children, 
115 ;  why  parents  allow,  116 ; 
Congress  and,  117 ;  reasons 
against,  118 ;  and  healthful  work, 
120 

Children,  the  age  of,  76-92 ;  can- 
not vote,  150 ;  how  they  repre- 
sent themselves,  150-152 

Children's  age,  76-92  ;  children  as 
"people,"  76,  85;  children  of 
long  ago,  76,  77  ;  calling  on  the 
president,  78  ;  aiding  the  presi- 
dent, 79-81 ;  the  Junior  Red 


389 


390 


MY  COUNTRY 


Cross,  80 ;   a  medieval  crusade, 
81-82 ;   a  modern  crusade,  82- 
84 ;    a    special    census,    83-84 ; 
what  the  nation  has  done  for  its 
children,  86-88  ;    the  children's 
debt  to  the  nation,  88-90 
Children's  Bureau,  88,  165 
Church,  a  community  group,  69, 

71,  75 

Citizenship,  obtaining,  69,  385-388 
City    government,    147-148,    383- 

385 

Clubs,  a  community  group,  70, 71, 75 
Common  council,  201,  384,  385 
Community,  the,  69-72,  127-129 
Congress,    and    child   labor,    117- 
118 ;    the    nation's    representa- 
tives,  160-165,    177;    and   war, 
342  ;  and  the  Constitution,  374- 
378 
Conservation,   162,   177.    See  also 

Thrift 

Constitution,  of  the  United  States, 
42,  131,  207,  373,  376,  377;   of 
the  states,  378 
Consuls,  180 
Cooperative  banks,  255 
Councilmen,  201,  384 
County,  127,  147,  381-382 
County  commissioners,  382 
County  supervisors,  382 
Courts,  enforce  the  law,  205,  316  ; 
school  courts,  205 ;  settle  disputes, 
206,  316 ;  untangle  laws,  206 ;  the 
Supreme  Court,  206,  377  ;  state, 
381  ;  probate,  381 
Cuba,  299,  322,  327,  351 

Declaration  of  Independence,  114 
Democracy,  defined,  136  ;  England 

a,  297  ;  France  a,  298 ;  making 

the  world  safe  for,  304 
Dickens,  Charles,  11 
Disease,  278,  286 

Edison,  Thomas  A.,  98,  244 
Education,    denned,    94 ;    a   hard 
climb,  95  ;    for  rich  and   poor, 
117,  118  ;  and  soiled  hands,  266. 
See  Schools 


England,  28,  31,  296,  297 
Eskimos,  language  of,  44 
Executive  department  of  govern' 

ment,   373,   376,  380,  382,  383. 

See  also  Governor,  Mayor,  etc. 

Family,  a  community  group,  69, 
71,  75  ;  rules  for  the,  188 

Faneuil  Hall,  42 

Flag,  the  King  of  England  saluting, 
302;  in  Cuba,  351;  the  "Star 
Spangled  Banner,"  352-354 ; 
saluting,  354-356 ;  what  it  stands 
for,  356-359 ;  showing  respect 
for,  360-362;  what  it  suggests, 
362  ;  dishonoring,  363  ;  living  up 
to,  364 ;  of  other  nations,  364  ; 
our  first,  366  ;  rules  for  use  of, 
367;  "The  Old  Flag  Forever," 
371 

Flies,  285 

Forests,  preserving,  162 

France,  American  soldiers  in,  291- 
294,  296 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  98,  107,  131, 
190,  277,  356 

Fulton,  Robert,  98,  356 

Furnace,  caring  for,  63 

Garbage,  285,  286 

Germany,  296,  303-304,  306,  314 

Girl  Scouts,  133 

Government,  not  to  be  feared  in 
America,  21;  state,  136-146; 
local,  147-150;  national,  160- 
166 ;  defined,  201  ;  legislative 
department  of,  373,  374,  378, 

382,  383,  384  ;  executive  depart- 
ment   of,    373,    376,    380,    382, 

383,  384 ;    judicial   department 
of,  373,  377,  381,  383.   See  also 
President,  etc. 

Governor,  his  part  in  making 
laws,  139,  379 ;  representing  the 
people,  143-144 ;  state  executive, 
380 

Grant,  Ulysses  S.,  98,  193,  277 

Great  War,  the,  37,  251,  252,  291- 
297 

Greeley,  Horace,  107 


INDEX 


391 


Hamilton,  Alexander,  98,  131 
Health,  taking  account  of  stock  of, 
272;     success    and,    273,    275; 
necessary     for     fighters,     273 ; 
necessary  for  sturdy  Americans, 
274;  tobacco  and  alcohol,  276, 
277;  hardships  and,  277  ;  rules 
of,  278-281 ;  physical  examina- 
tion,  278;    "balanced"  meals, 
278-279  ;  exercise  and,  279-280  ; 
happiness  and,  280  ;  overcoming 
defects,  281  ;  how  the  town  and 
state  help,  281-285  ;  germs,  281- 
282  ;  boards  of  health,  282-285  ; 
cleaning  the  home,  285-286 
Hearing,  the,  145-146 
Henry,  Patrick,  and  liberty,  36 
Hoover,  H.  C.,  102,  253 
Hospitals  for  children,  87 
House  of  delegates,  138,  378 
House  of  representatives,  state,  138, 
378 ;  national,  160,  374-376 

Idleness,  256-257,  259 

Ignorance,  and  poor  workers,  97  ; 
and  child  labor,  117  ;  and  laws, 
208-209 ;  an  enemy  of  the  United 
States,  235-247 ;  and  witches, 
235  ;  of  soils,  235  ;  makes  poor 
workers,  236;  illiteracy,  236- 
237 ;  schools  and,  238 ;  day  schools 
for  night  workers,  240  ;  dangers 
of,  240-241  ;  and  ideas,  242 ; 
libraries  and,  243-244 

Illiteracy  in  the  United  States, 
236-237 

Immigrants,  8, 10, 11,  237,  246,  386 

Incorporated  towns  and  villages,  383 

Indians,  38-41 

Industry,  22,  51, 78,  84,  96. 117, 122, 
125,  129,  163,  190-193/256,  266 

Initiative,  380 

Inspectors,  161,  202,  203 

Insurance  companies,  255 

'Inventions,  22,  124-125 

Joffre,  Marshal,  135,  158 

Judicial  department  of  govern- 
ment, 373, 377,  381,  383.  See  also 
Courts 


Junior  Red  Cross,  80 
Jury,  trial  by,  206,  381 
Justice  of  the  peace,  381 

Keller,  Helen,  281 

Language,  American,  43-55;  In- 
dians and,  43 ;  inherited  from 
England,  43 ;  compared  with 
other  languages,  43-45 ;  rich- 
ness, 45-46  ;  and  liberty,  46 ; 
dangers  of  many  languages,  46- 
53  ;  in  foreign  New  York,  46-48  ; 
teaching  English  to  the  foreign- 
born,  51-53 ;  Chinese  and  our, 
52  ;  mastering  the,  66 

Laws,  compulsory  school,  106 ; 
making,  138-139,  373,  374-376, 
378-379 ;  the  minimum  wage, 
139 ;  vetoing,  144,  177,  375,  379, 
383 ;  liquor,  144 ;  why  necessary, 
183-185 ;  rules  and,  183 ;  prevent 
epidemics,  185 ;  as  helps,  186, 
212  ;  in  homes,  188 ;  rules  of 
Washington  and  Franklin,  189- 
190  ;  "  regulations,"  190-192  ; 
time-tables,  192  ;  and  injustice, 
193-194;  protect  liberty,  195- 
197  ;  as  preventives,  197  ;  will 
always  be  necessary,  197-198 ; 
governing  by  means  of,  201-215 ; 
made  by  all  the  people,  202 ; 
carrying  out,  202-204 ;  police- 
men and,  204 ;  lawbreakers,  204, 
205  ;  courts  and,  205-207  ;  law- 
yers, 207  ;  newspapers  and,  207  ; 
and  ignorance,  208,  209 ;  need 
to  be  enforced,  210 ;  frequent 
changes  in,  210;  future  law- 
makers, 212 

Lawyers,  help  explain  the  law, 
207 

Lee,  Robert  E.,  98,  277 

Legislative  department  of  govern- 
ment, 373,  374,  378,  382,  383. 
See  also  Congress,  etc. 

Liberty,  and  America,  27-42 ; 
home  and,  27-29  ;  lepers  denied, 
29 ;  and  work,  29-31 ;  and  church- 
going,  31 ;  the  Statue  of  Liberty, 


392 


MY  COUNTRY 


32-33;  the  word  "liberty"  in 
our  history,  33-36 ;  Liberty  Tree, 
33,  34;  Liberty  Loans,  35-36; 
Liberty  Bell,  35;  and  slavery, 
36,  40-41 ;  America's  wars  for, 
37-38,  313  ;  Armed  Liberty,  37  ; 
the  Indians  and,  38-41 ;  the  price 
of,  41,  231;  and  "oppression,1' 
41 ;  learning  the  value  of,  57-62 ; 
and  leisure,  61-62 ;  and  laws,  195; 
and  taxes,  231 

Libraries,  and  foreigners,  50  ;  for 
children,  86 ;  and  ignorance, 
243-245;  using,  247;  paid  for 
by  thrift,  265 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  2,  4,  15-16,  37, 
97-98,  99,  108-109,  277 

McCormick,  Cyrus  H.,  102 

Madison,  James,  131 

Magazines,  help  in  choosing  repre- 
sentatives, 166-167  ;  help  in  cur- 
ing ignorance,  244,  246 

Magna  Charta,  46 

Mayor,  acts  for  the  people,  148, 
151;  duties,  383-385 

Minimum  wage  law,  139 

Monroe  Doctrine,  322,  330 

Nation,  what  it  is,  22  ;  building  the 
American,  22-24  ;  dead  nations, 
24  ;  organizing  our,  131 

Naval  Academy.    See  Annapolis 

Navy,  what  it  is,  320;  protects 
our  borders,  320-321  ;  protects 
shipping,  322,  328  ;  helps  guard 
our  neighbors,  322,  330  ;  protects 
Americans  abroad,  323 ;  pro- 
tects bird  reservations,  325 ;  in 
Alaska,  326 ;  in  the  Arctic 
regions,  328  ;  and  icebergs,  328  ; 
Naval  Academy  at  Annapolis, 
334,  339 ;  in  China,  338  ;  the 
president  and,  344 ;  in  Cuba, 
351 

Negroes,  36,  40-41 

Neighborhood,  a  community  group, 
69,  71,  75 

New  York  City,  harbor  of,  5,  9 ; 
foreign  languages  in,  46-48  ;  our 


largest  city,  168 ;  to-day  and 
two  hundred  years  ago,  300 
Newspapers,  how  they  help  in 
choosing  representatives,  166- 
167 ;  help  explain  laws,  207  ; 
help  cure  ignorance,  244 

Organization,  124-131 ;  defined, 
125-126  ;  other  names  for,  126  ; 
the  railroad  an,  126  ;  schools  as 
an,  126  ;  the  church,  the  factory, 
127 ;  the  town,  the  city,  etc., 
127-130 ;  and  comfort,  128  ;  and 
leisure,  129 ;  the  nation,  131 

Palaces,  174,  175 

Parcel-post  law,  162 

Parkman,  Francis,  281 

People  of  America,  the  Indians, 
11  ;  Dickens  on,  11  ;  described, 
15-25  ;  the  Great  Stone  Face, 
15 ;  Lincoln  a  rugged  type,  15- 
16  ;  the  look  of  America,  16-17  ; 
our  soldiers,  17 ;  and  poverty, 
18  ;  and  tyranny,  19 ;  and  their 
continent,  21-22  ;  inventions 
by,  22 ;  builders  of  a  nation, 
23 ;  children  as,  85 ;  govern 
themselves,  136-152 

Play,  mastering,  65-66 ;  organ- 
ized, 130 

Policeman,  and  lawbreakers,  194, 
204-211;  "kid  cops,"  203,  204, 
211  ;  every  person  a,  210 

Political  parties,  133,  374 

Post  office,  the,  a  help  to  all  the 
people,  161,  162  ;  a  national  de- 
partment, 179,  204 

Postal  savings  banks,  255 

Postmaster  General,  179 

Poverty  in  America,  18 

President  of  the  United  States,  the 
kind  of  men  we  make,  170-173  ; 
J.  Q.  Adams,  170-171 ;  Benjamin 
Harrison,  171  ;  W.  H.  Taft,  172  ; 
Woodrow  Wilson,  173  ;  the  sim- 
plicity of,  173-175 ;  calling  on, 
173  ;  the  dignity  of,  175  ;  power 
of,  176-177  ;  as  leader,  176-178  ; 
his  Cabinet,  179,  377 ;  assistants 


INDEX 


393 


in  foreign  countries,  180  ;  speaks 
for  the  people,  295  ;  how  elected, 
376 ;  powers  and  duties  of, 
377 

Primary,  374 

Pure  food,  laws  to  secure,  160-161 ; 
inspectors,  203 

Quebec  bridge,  103 

f  f  Readers'  Guide  to  Periodical  Lit- 
erature," 169 

Recall,  380 

Red  Cross,  80,  345-347 

Referendum,  380 

Representative  government,  134- 
169  ;  meaning,  134-136  ;  different 
kinds  of,  135-136;  democracy, 
136  ;  the  state,  136-147  ;  business 
of  the  people,  136-139  ;  making 
laws,  138-139 ;  poor  representa- 
tives, 140;  choosing  the  right 
representatives,  140-142,  165- 
167;  state  senators  and  represent- 
atives, 142-143;  the  governor, 
143 ;  representing  oneself,  145 ;  in 
towns  and  cities,  147-150 ;  the 
mayor,  148 ;  selectmen  and  vil- 
lage trustees,  149  ;  children  and 
women,150-152 ;  seat  of  national, 
157-159;  the  people's  city,  159; 
the  business  of  all  the  people, 
160-165 ;  three  departments  of, 
373-385 

Revolutionary  War,  19,  37,  297, 
313,  318 

Roads,  and  good  government,  127- 
129  ;  and  prosperity,  164 

Roosevelt,  Theodore,  56,  177,  178, 
180,  277 

Root,  Elihu,  168,  323 

Russia,  5,  236 

Salute,  the,  17-18;  354-356,  361, 
368 

Savings  banks,  255-257 

Schools,  a  community  group,  69, 
71,  75  ;  money  spent  on,  86,  96 ; 
why  we  have,  93-110;  and  fa- 
mous people,  98  ;  Washington, 


Lincoln,  and,  98,  99;  and  our 
presidents,  99-100  ;  give  all  equal 
chance,    100-102;      help    build 
bridges,    102-104;      and     one's 
"best,"  104-105;     compulsory, 
106  ;  schooling  pays,  120 ;   who 
looks  out  for,  123  ;  how  organ- 
ized,   126;    special,    164;    self- 
government      in,      205 ;      laws 
regarding,  212  ;  and  taxes,  221- 
224;    night    schools,   238;    day 
schools  for  adults,  240 
Secretary  of  Agriculture,  179 
Secretary  of  Commerce,  179 
Secretary  of  Labor,  179 
Secretary  of  the  Navy,  178,  344 
Secretary  of  State,  178 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  178 
Secretary  of  War,  178,  344 
Self-government  in  schools,  205 
Senate,  state,   136-146,  378,  379; 

national,  160,  374,  377 
Serbia,  306 
Sewers,  283-286 
Sons  of  Liberty,  33,  34 
Spanish- American  War,  37,  298- 

303,  315.  351 
State  government,   136-146,  378- 

381 

Statue  of  Liberty,  26,  365 
Streets,  attractive,  73,  265-266 

Taft,  William  H.,  73,  172 

Taxes,  who  pays  them,  216-231 ; 
what  they  are,  216 ;  on  real 
estate,  217;  and  property-owners, 
217, 218, 219  ;  and  rent,  218-219 ; 
roomers  and  boarders  help  pay, 
219 ;  high  prices  and,  219,  221 ; 
dishonest  work  and,  220  ;  and 
schools,  221-224  ;  some  buildings 
not  taxed,  224-226  ;  and  work. 
226  ;  and  independence,  227, 228 ; 
state  and  national,  228-230; 
paying  the  president's  salary, 
229  ;  indirect,  230  ;  duties,  230 ; 
emergency,  230 ;  for  safety,  231 ; 
and  the  Cubans,  301 ;  and 
George  III,  303 

Tenement-house  laws,  208-209 


394 


MY  COUNTRY 


Thrift,  248-271 ;  patches,  248-249  ; 
a  bread  line,  249;  waste,  a  national 
foe,  250  ;  saving  for  Europe,  251, 
253 ;  learning  what  waste  is, 
252  ;  food  waste,  253  ;  thought- 
lessness, 254 ;  helps  for  saving, 
255 ;  hoarding,  256 ;  making 
money  work,  256-257  ;  extrava- 
gance, 258  ;  wasted  people,  259- 
261;  wasted  ideas,  261-263; 
beauty  and,  264-267 

Town,  the,  a  community  group, 
69,  71,  75,  127;  government  of, 
147-150,  381-383 

Trade  schools,  115,  163,  261 

Transportation,  126,  129,  163 

Treasurer,  city,  217 

Tyranny,  19-21,  303,  313-314 

United  States,  a  part  of  a  con- 
tinent, 4-5  ;  seacoast,  5  ;  rivers 
and  lakes,  5;  possessions,  49, 
326,  327,  330 ;  and  oppressed 
nations,  291-306 

Vocational    schools    and    waste, 

115,  163,  261 
Voting,  150,  154,  373 


War,  what  is  it  ?  309^-319  ;  "  lost " 
children,  309  ;  poisoning  whole 
villages,  310 ;  bombing  houses, 
310 ;  "  house  of  hopes  and 
fears,"  311  ;  why  we  have,  312  ; 
selfish  rulers  and,  313-315; 
necessary  to  prevent  injustice, 
315 ;  wars  fought  by  America, 
318 

War  savings  stamps,  255 

Washing  dishes,  63 

Washington,  the  capitol  at,  37  ;  the 
people's  city,  180 

Washington,  George,  98,  107,  108, 
131,  189,  277 

Wealth,  a  nation's  greatest,  96; 
and  waste,  252 

Webster,  Daniel,  15 

West  Point,  Military  Academy  at, 
277,  332-337 

White  House,  174 

Wilson,  Woodrow,  98,  99, 173,  253, 
293,  294,  295,  304 

Work,  mastering  simple,  63-65 ; 
and  taxes,  226 ;  and  beautiful 
things,  266,  267 

World  citizen,  the,  90 

World  court,  316 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
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THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  SO  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
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OVERDUE. 


OCT    3    1933 


OCT   4   1933 


JAN2954 


SEP 





16   i^ii. 


JUL201960 


LD21-100m-7,'33 


UNIVERSITY  OF^CAUFORNIA  LIBRARY 

'"* 


